ALAMOSA — The Adams State University "High School Mixed Choir Festival," a prestigious event, returned to Alamosa on Feb. 20-22. It featured some of the finest high school choral musicians in the Southwest, including both an auditioned symphonic choir and director-recommended concert choir. 

The audience was dazzled at a concert on Saturday that was a breathtaking and moving experience at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Alamosa. The venue, which has excellent acoustics, was completed in 1928. The church is a great example of the Mision/Spanish Colonial Revival style and is listed as both a Colorado Historic Place and a National Historic Place. 

Beth Robison, Director of Choral Activities at Adams State, said to the audience, "I want to thank Father Carlos Alvarez at Sacred Heart Church. I have been here 16 years, and they have always been amazing. This is such a glorious place to sing. I am very grateful to this church. They have always opened their arms to us and allowed us to make beautiful music." 

And beautiful music it was. 

The concert began with a humorous message sung to the audience with lyrics set to the baroque classic “Cannon in D Major,” by Johann Pachelbel, "Won't you put your phone on vibrate. Do it right now. We'll wait… music sounds better without your cell phone ringing. Let's all enjoy some uninterrupted singing…please turn them off right now. Your kids can show you how." 

The concert then included “Festival Sanctus,” by John Leavitt and several other works, including "Kuimba nafsi yangu" by Jacob Narveud. Sung in the Swahili language, the title translates to "Sing my soul" or "Sing my heart," and it was stunningly performed. 

The choristers added a third language to their repertoire and sang Vivaldi's Gloria in Latin. The work was composed in about 1715 and remained lost until the manuscript was found in 1920. It was buried with many other works and not performed until 1939. The choir did an excellent job of singing the lyrics, "Gloria in excelsis Deo. 

Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis… 

The students participated in workshops that included symphonic choir, concert choir, and breakout groups for tenors/basses and sopranos/altos. 

The choirs performed sublimely, and the superb acoustics of the church added to a moving and breathtaking experience. 

The festival included Guest conductor Heather Roberson from Iowa Western Community College and Jeff Peckham, a choir director from Colorado Springs and voice instructor with over 20 years of experience. 

During a rehearsal before the concert, Peckham told the singers, "Singing in a choir, 85% of you needs to know what is going on around you, 15% is what you produce as a result. Listen and make sure.” 

"I love this festival, I love doing this festival with kids, and this is my first time as director. A lot of these schools are from rural areas where they don't have the biggest choirs. This is a special experience for them; they get to come in and be with a large group of other people who love to sing. It is such a good environment because they get the feel of what a big choir can sound like,” said Peckham 

"We hope they have a couple of moments where the hair stands up on the back of their neck, and they take away this elevated experience.” 

After the concert, musician Kai Tandberg of Alamosa said, "It was so much fun. This was my first time with the Adams Honor Choir, and it was just awesome." Lexi Daiz said, "I'm a music student at Adams State. I thought it was wonderful and great to have all the kids here. They learned a lot, they were fun to work with, and I really enjoyed this experience." 

Adams State University will host the 80th Annual Top of the Nation Honor Band Festival later this week with a concert on Sunday, March 2 at 12 to 1:30 p.m. in Richardson Hall on the Adams State University campus in Alamosa. 

Symphonic Choir Director Heather Roberson told the audience, "I am overwhelmed by the learning and the music making that they have done," in reference to what the musicians accomplished over the three-day workshop and concert.