36th Annual High School Choral Festival

Sunday, October 5th | 2:00 PM – Monday, October 6th, 2025 | 4:30 PM
NDSU Challey Hall (formerly known as Reineke Fine Arts Center)

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 check in 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 music to be performed in the festival choirs is listed in the green boxes below (click the arrow) and available through Popplers Music.

Mixed Choir – Grades 11 and 12 – Philip Brown, conductor

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.

Soprano/Alto Choir – Grades 9 and 10 – Charlette Moe, conductor

Tenor/Bass Choir – Grades 9 and 10 – Dean Jilek, conductor

Dean Jiliek is the 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.

Honor Chamber Choir – Auditioned Grades 11 and 12 – Dwight Jilek, conductor

The audition process and submission deadlines are explained below and in the registration link.

Auditions Details for the Honor Chamber Choir

Please upload audition files for the Honor Chamber Choir only to this form by September 19, 2025. Each student will submit an electronic file with the student singing a selection that represents their highest level of musicianship. In their recording, students should identify who they are, the high school they are from, and which part they are auditioning for, e.g. soprano or alto. Recordings may be accompanied or unaccompanied. The size of the NDSU High School Honor Chamber Choir will be 32-36 voices. We will announce the selected singers on September 22, 2025.

General Registration Information

For the other festival choirs, registration is due September 17, 2025. Each school may send one or two SATB quartets 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 additional participation, please do not hesitate to email Charlette Moe at charlette.moe@ndsu.edu. 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.

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

Want to view this information in letter format? Download the Choral Festival letter below!

Choral Festival Information Letter