The Eighth Annual
New Jersey Elementary & Junior High Honor Choirs

[NJ Elem & Junior High Honor Choirs]
sponsored by the
New Jersey Music Educators Association
in cooperation with the
New Jersey American Choral Directors Association

Tom Pedas, Conductor - Junior High Honor Choir

Judith Willoughby, Conductor - Elementary Honor Choir

Festival Day Schedule — Saturday, May 6, 2000

8:30a.m. — Auditions for solo parts

[Solo Auditions - Junior High Honor Choir]
Tom Pedas auditions singers for solo and speaking parts.

[Solo Auditions - Junior High Honor Choir]
Music teachers judge the auditions

The Road to All-State Chorus

Students participating in the New Jersey Junior High and Elementary School Honor Choirs were chosen based on competitive auditions in January. Each choir is made of 120 students from around the state. The annual event gives talented New Jersey students the opportunity to perform under the direction of outstanding choral conductors.

Children for both groups prepared for the competitive auditions with the help of a music teacher or choral conductor who assisted them in submitting an audition tape, which was then evaluated by the judges. The 240 singers have been rehearsing with their sponsoring choral directors and in regional rehearsals throughout New Jersey.

The choirs met as a group for the first time on the day of the concert. The Festival Day rehearsals for the Junior High and Elementary School All-State Choirs began at 8:30a.m. and culminated in an evening concert which was open to the public

9:00a.m. to 12:30p.m.— Morning Rehearsal

[Tom Pedas Rehearses Junior High Honor Choir]
Tom Pedas rehearses the Junior High Honor Choir

[Judith Willoughby Rehearses Elementary School Honor Choir]
Judith Willoughby rehearses the Elementary Honor Choir


Afternoon Rehearsal and Stage Line-up

[Tom Pedas with Junior High Honor Choir]
Junior High Honor Choir stage rehearsal — Tom Pedas, Conductor

[Judith Willoughby with Elementary School Honor Choir]
Elementary and Junior High choirs rehearse with Judith Willoughby, Conductor

Judith Willoughby is the founding director of the Temple University Children's Choir, now in its eighth season, with whom she make a triumphant appearance at the 1997 American Choral Directors Association National Convention in San Diego, California, and the founding director of the Choral Society of Montgomery County which is in its eighteenth season. Her choirs have performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, toured Eastern Europe, Australia, the former Soviet Union, Puerto Rico and both have been feathred on The First Art.

A graduate of Northwestern University and Temple University's Boyer College of Music, Judith Willoughby is Professor of Music and Director of Cultural Affairs at Montgomery County Community College (Blue Bell, PA), secretary of Chorus America, immediate past president of Pennsylvania Presenter, past president of PA-ACDA, and of the PA Collegiate Choral Association.

2000 New Jersey Elementary and Junior High Honor Choirs

Columbia High School - Maplewood, NJ — May 6, 2000

[Tom Pedas - Junior High Honor Choir]
Program
New Jersey Junior High Honor Choir
Tom Pedas— Conductor
Conradt Erdt, Accompanist

The Awakening — Joseph Martin
Ave Verum Corups — Mozart/Jones
N'kosi Sikelel' i Africa —Sontonga/Page
Song of Galilee — Chajes
The Nightingale — Weelkes-Greyson
I Wished to be Single Again — ar. John Rickertts
Seasons of Love — Jonathan Larson, arr. Emerson

Program
New Jersey Elementary Honor Choir
Judith Willoughby — Conductor
Daniele Piatelli, Accompanist

Give Ear Unto Me — Benedetto Marcello/ed. Carolee Curtright
Mayim, Mayim — R. Amiran/arr.Valerie Shields
Three Dominican Folksongs —arr. Valerie Shields
Brinca La Tablita - Jump the Blocks
Duermete Mi Nino- Sleep My Baby
Arroz Conn Leche-Rice Pudding
Spring — Ronald Corps
The Storm Is Passing Over — arr. Barbara Baker

COMBINED HONOR CHOIRS — Judith Willoughby, Conductor

Go Where I Send Thee! — Gospel Spiritual/arr. Paul Caldwell & Sean Ivory

[Judith Willouby - Elementary Honor Choir]

[Collage]
Honor Choir Organization

 

Coordinator: Lourdes Armada

Elementary Managers: Tom Pedas, Jennifer Walk

Junior High Manager: Argaille A. Di Matteo

Elementary Committee: Leslie A. Adler, Steven Bell, Angela Torban

Junior High Committee: Joy Allen, Marily M. Berrie, John Idenden

 

 
 New Jersey Music Educators Association

President: Joseph Mello

Past-President: Chic Hansen

President-Elect: Nicholas Santoro

Secretary/Treasurer: Deborah Sfraga

 

 
New Jersey American Choral Directors Association

President: Virginia Moravek

Past-President: Brent Miller

President-Elect: Judith Nicosia

Vice President: Brent Miller

Treasurer: Vincent Rufino

 

 
Acknowledgements—Regional Rehearsal Sites, April 29, 2000

Frelinghuysen Middle School, Morristown: Argaille A. DiMatteo, host

Hillside Avenue School, Cranford: Tom Pedas, host

Gateway Regional H.S., Woodbury Heights, Cranford:Helen Stanley, host

South Valley School, Moorestown: Angela Torban, host

  

 
Acknowledgements— Festival Site, May 6, 2000

Columbia High School, Maplewood:

Tom Paster, hosting director
Mark Yolleck, arts supervisor

 

 
Sponsoring Directors

Ellen Barton: Haddonfield Middle School

Marily Berrie: Hackettstown Middle School & High School

Debra Bono: Menlo Park Terrace School #19


Janet Breckenridge: White Rock School, Jefferson Twp.

Amy Burns: Far Hills Country Day School

Gwendolyn Bussey: New Life Christian School,Dunellen


Linda Clark: King of Kings Lutheran Church Ch. Choir, Mt. Lakes

Caroline Collins: Upper Township Middle School Festival Singers

Hillary Colton: Hunterdon Cent. Reg. High School,Flemington


Frances DePalma-Iozzi: Jefferson School, West Cardwell

Argaille A. DiMatteo: Frelinghuysen Middle School, Morristown

Christine Dunleavy: Winslow Twp. School #5,Cedar Brook

Jessica Franks: Ben Franklin Middle School&Ridgewood High School


Aida Gamboa: Woodbrook School, Edison

Caroline Hackett: Edgar School, Metuchen

Amy Hail: Toll Gate Grammar School, Pennington

Jennifer Hardy: H.C. Johnson School, Jackson


Ginger Haselden: private studio, Edison

Linda Helmke: Cranford High School

Kenneth Hess: Allen W. Roberts School, New Providence

John Idenden: White Twp. Consolidated School, Belvidere


Caroline Lanigan: Rockaway Valley School,Boonton Twp.

William Maglio: Hunterdon Cent. Reg. High School, Flemington


Joann Manhardt: Hope Twp. School, Hope

Anne Matlack: Grace Episcopal Church Treble Choir, Madison

Deborah Mello: McKeown School, Newton

Polly Murray: Haddonfield Festival Chorus

Grace Parent: Holly Cross School, Rumson


Tom Pedas: Hillside Avenue School, Cranford

Paula Quann: William Allen Middle School, Moorestown

Marylou Roma-Scott: Metuchen High School


Anthony Sears: Clearview Middle School, Mulica Hill

Jennifer Sellman: Kittatinny Reg. High School, Newton

Kathleen Spadofino: Churchill Jr. High School, East Brunswick

Helen Stanley: Gateway Reg. High School, Woodbury Hts.


Angela Torban: South Valley School, Moorestown

Lauren Voight: Warren Hills Middle School, Washington

Bud Walton: Beck Middle School, Cherry Hill

John Wernega: Quinton Twp. School, Quinton


Rachel Whitcomb: Barley Sheaf School, Flemington

Patricia Wills: Fredon Twp. School, Newton

Diane Wions: John Adams Middle School, Edison

[Collage]

[All State Program]

 

 

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    Index
    Tom Pedas, The Celebration Singers and Children's Chorus
    [MusicLine]
    [Conductor][piano]
    e-mail Tom Pedas at: tpedas@aol.com