AJSHS sends eight singers to Northwest Honor Choir
Anaconda Junior/Senior High School choir students Jaidyn Holdaway, back left, Kellen Connors, Travis Bailey and Blakelyn Cline, Katrina Howell, front left, Thomas Lorengo, Kendyl Lorengo and Deidra Hatcher stand in front of the Fox Theater in Spokane, Washington, site of the 2024 Northwest Honor Choir for which the eight students successfully auditioned. Photo courtesy of Kim Lorengo.
Ludwig Van Beethoven said that music can change the world – and Kim Lorengo, Anaconda Junior/Senior High School choir and orchestra teacher can attest to that, too. On Jan. 24-27, she helped changed the lives of eight talented students when they traveled to perform at the 2024 Northwest Honor Choir in Spokane, Washington.
“They had amazing guest directors that they worked with,” Lorengo said. “All their guest directors that they had are world famous composers and conductors, they’re from all over the country.”
The eight Anaconda singers who made it are Travis Bailey and Kellen Connors for grades 11-12, Jaidyn Holdaway for grades 9-10, and Kendyl Lorengo, Thomas Lorengo, Katrina Howell, Deidra Hatcher and Blakelyn Cline for middle school grades.
The Middle School Honor Choir was directed by Dr. Rollo Dilworth from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. The 9th-10th Grade SATB Honor Choir was directed by Dr. Jace Kaholokula Saplan from Arizona State University. And the 11th-12th Grade TB Honor Choir was directed by Dr. Rosephanye Powell from Auburn University.
The singers rehearsed for three days then performed a major concert on Saturday, Jan 27. They performed with kids from Alaska, Washington, Oragon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. There were approximately one hundred kids in each of the choirs that were selected from the six states.
The process of auditioning includes singing certain pieces based on a criteria and submitting them to a panel of reviewers, or “screeners” as they’re called, in late September to early October.
“So, they basically competed in this audition process against other students from all over those six Northwest states,” Lorengo said.
The selected students travel to Washington and rehearse up to eight hours each day. There is a little downtime, however the kids spend the majority of their time rehearsing.
“They practice all day long with the intention that they get to go and perform at this concert on Saturday at the end of the week,” she explained.
Lorengo mentioned the incredible support that they received from several community businesses who helped to fund expenses for the annual competition.
“If I could pinpoint one highlight it would be [that] all students represented Anaconda Junior/Senior High School very well. We’re super proud of them for being selected and representing AJSHS,” she said.
Lorengo has been an instrumental piece of the music program at the high school, junior high, and Moodry Intermediate over the years, and consistently receives accolades from her students, past and present.
“The nice part about them going over there and doing this with other kids from the Northwest is that they get to make connections beyond the walls of their own school. They get to see that there are other music programs that are out there. They get to share this connection with other people. It’s something that they may not get to do in other realms.
When you’re there making music with somebody, you’re sharing your gift of music. It’s just something that’s so unique in this world of chaos, we get to have a little bit of brightness and positive human connections through music, and they get to experience something like that when they do this,” she said.
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