Festival to feature performances of 300 students
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on April 18, 2016 1:46 PM
Wayne County Public Schools will host its annual musical showcase Tuesday night, featuring nearly 300 students representing 30 schools.
The 2016 All County Choral Festival will be held at Goldsboro High School at 6:30 p.m. The event is free to the public.
For weeks leading up to the festival, choral directors from each school have been working with students chosen to participate, based upon vocal ability and work ethic.
"The All County Choral Festival brings hundreds of our most talented vocalists together in a wonderful evening of performances," said Kim Copeland, director specialist. "This event could not be made possible without the hard work of the participating students, their music teachers and chorus directors."
Jean Cox, lead choral teacher, helped organize the event, she said, with guest conductors brought in to work with students.
The festival is divided into three programs, performed by elementary, middle and high school students. The elementary school chorus will be directed by Paul Flowers, choral music teacher at Hope Middle School in Greenville. Directing the middle school chorus is Susan Townsend, a retired middle and high school chorus teacher from Cumberland County. The high school chorus will perform under the direction of an award-winning composer and conductor, Dr. Carl Ashley.
Justin Bruyer, assistant principal of Greenwood Middle School, will be the evening's master of ceremonies.
Among the musical selections presented are "America the Beautiful," "The Bee," "Benedictus," "Shine on Me," "Three Madrigals," "The Lord Will Provide" and "He Never Failed Me Yet."
Music teachers and chorus directors who have worked to prepare their students to take part include Michelle Walker of Brogden Primary, Jerome Powers of Brogden Middle, LaVone Hicks of Carver Elementary, Kevin Alston of Carver Heights Elementary, Rico Dawson of Charles B. Aycock High, Victoria Atkins of Dillard Middle and Goldsboro High, Weil Sawyer of Eastern Wayne Elementary, Raven White of Eastern Wayne High, Kenneth "Skip" Morris of Eastern Wayne Middle, Micky Anderson of Edgewood Community Developmental School and School Street Elementary, Jim Grant of Fremont STARS Elementary, Jaime Cox of Grantham Elementary and Grantham Middle, Winnie Wong of Greenwood Middle, Matilda Marriner of Meadow Lane Elementary, Peggy Vaughn of Mount Olive Middle, Denise Dupree of North Drive Elementary, Jean Milleson of Northeast Elementary, Sharon Caughron and Dolores Gray of Northwest Elementary, Tiffany Kilgore of Norwayne Middle, Denise Tilden of Rosewood Elementary, Lisa West of Rosewood High and Rosewood Middle, Lynne Rose and Nicole Price of Spring Creek Elementary, Karen Peele of Spring Creek Middle, Jason Cox of Southern Wayne High, Daniel Kilgore of Spring Creek High, and Betty Grantham of Wayne Early/Middle College High School.