UK Choirs Welcomes 400+ High School Vocalists to Bluegrass Choral Music Festival

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 5, 2014) – The University of Kentucky Choral Music Department will be hosting the 22nd annual Bluegrass Choral Music Festival Sept. 5-6,  in the Singletary Center for the Arts. The event has become one of the largest high school choral festivals in the southeastern United States featuring more than 400 singers from across the state of Kentucky. A concert featuring these vocalists will be held Sept. 6, at Singletary Center.

Participating students in the festival will combine to form three large choirs: an SATB mixed choir, the all female SSA choir, and a mixed Honor Choir.

The SSA choir will be directed by Lori Hetzel, associate director of UK Choral Activities, and the Honor Choir will be directed by Jefferson Johnson, director of UK Choral Activities.

Special guest conductor Eva Floyd, professor of choral music education at College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, will be the guest conductor for the SATB Choir. Floyd conducted the 2013 Kentucky All-State Women’s Choir and is a graduate of UK.

On Friday, Sept. 5, the students will attend a special performance by the acoUstiKats, UK's nationally recognized male a cappella ensemble featured on season four of NBC’s “The Sing Off.”

The festival will culminate in a free concert featuring all three choruses at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, in the Singletary Center Concert Hall.

For more information on Bluegrass Choral Music Festival 2014, contact Evan Pulliam, 859-230-4782 or evan.pulliam@uky.edu.      

UK Choirs is part of the the UK School of Music at the UK College of Fine Arts. The School of Music has garnered national recognition for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, theory and music history.

Johnson, with the help of UK Men's Chorus recently took part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. To see that video, click play below.

[youtube]

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu