36th Annual High School Choral Festival
Sunday, October 5th | 2:00 PM – Monday, October 6th, 2025 | 4:30 PM
NDSU Reineke Fine Arts Building
We are pleased to invite you to sing with the Herd at the 36th Annual NDSU High School Choral Fest. The event will begin on Sunday, October 5, with registration at 1:15 pm and a 2:00 pm Choral Concert featuring the NDSU Concert Choir, NDSU Madrigal Singers and Vivace from Davies High School conducted by Carly Grandner. The NDSU Choral Fest Concert, at 4:30 pm on Monday, October 6, 2025, will conclude the event . Admission to both concerts is free.
The NDSU Choral Fest Honor Chamber Choir will be conducted by Dwight Jilek (Director of Choral Activities at NDSU) The audition process and submission deadlines will be announced in the fall.
The NDSU Choral Fest 11th and12th Grade Mixed Choir will be conducted by Philip Brown (Starting in the fall of 2025, Philip Brown will be director of choirs at Grain Valley High School in the Kansas City metro area. In addition to leading all choirs, he will also be teaching classes in music technology, piano, and musical theatre. Brown will continue his work with community youth choirs as well in the KC area. He previously was the conductor of high school choirs (Cantanti Singers, Treble Singers) with Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs. He has conducted Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs at the 2019 and 2025 National ACDA Conference. His choral groups have also been selected for performances at state, regional, and national choral conferences for ACDA, NAfME, and Chorus America Conferences. )
The NDSU Choral Fest SSA 9th and 10th Grade Choir will be conducted by Charlette Moe (Assistant Director of Choral Activities at NDSU)
The NDSU Choral Fest 9th and 10th Grade TBB Choir will be conducted by Dean Jilek (Director of Angelica and Cantus in the Central Dakota Children’s Choir, Artistic Director of the Grand Forks Master Chorale, and Former Director of Choral Activities at the University North Dakota).
Auditions for the NDSU High School Honor Chamber Choir will be submitted online during the first week of school in the fall with a due date of September 12, 2025. Each student will submit an electronic file with the student singing a selection that represents their highest level of musicianship. Students should identify which part they are auditioning for, i.e. soprano or alto. Please send your files to Dwight.jilek@ndsu.edu. The size of the NDSU High School Honor Chamber Choir will be up to 36 voices.
For the other festival choirs, each school may send one SATB quartet to the Mixed Choir and a balanced trio to the Soprano/Alto Choir and a balanced trio to the Tenor/Bass Choir. If you have any questions about participation, please do not hesitate to contact any of us. We will take registrations on a first-come basis. The registration fee for each student is $50, which includes a t-shirt, supper on Sunday night, and lunch on Monday. Choral directors will be the guests of the NDSU Challey School of Music.
Coming in the fall…
Online Registration
Practice Tracks
Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to working with your students at the 36th Annual NDSU Choral Festival!
Dwight Jilek, Director of Choral Activities Dwight.Jilek@ndsu.edu
Charlette Moe, Assistant Director of Choral Activities Charlette.moe@ndsu.edu