The Woodland Hills High School Chamber Choir performed at the annual Pittsburgh Concert Chorale Festival of Choirs at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland on Sunday, the first time that the Chamber Choir has performed at the event.
Sunday's performance was the eleventh edition of the Festival of Choirs, which the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale developed to showcase student musicianship at high schools from around the region. North Allegheny Intermediate High School's Honors Treble Choir and Canon McMillan's High School Choir also performed, as did the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale.
Under the direction of Ms. Alicia Scaramuzzo, the Woodland Hills High School Chamber Choir led off the festival with a selection of four songs. The first was a Latin piece titled "Inveniam Viam," composed by Ryan Main. An a capella by Jennifer Lucy Cook titled "Time" came next, followed by "Hodie" another piece in Latin by Jacob Narverud. The Chamber Choir closed out its performance with a rendition of "93 Million Miles," originally written by singer-songwriter Jason Mraz.
To close out the show, all three student choirs joined the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale on stage for the live debut of Dan Forrest's "The Peace of Wild Things." For the last three years, the festival has been able to fund the Carol and Robert Woody Choral Commission. The fund enables the festival to commission a new work each year that it uses as the finale for the show.
As part of the festival, the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale also awards a handful of scholarships to students pursuing music in some fashion after their graduation from high school. Woodland Hills High School senior Zach Barron was one of the recipients of the Nance Moser Klimcheck scholarships. The $1,000 scholarship is named in honor of a longtime Pittsburgh voice teacher.
Students who participated in Sunday's performance alongside Barron include Leo Alfieri, Sabrina Bender, Liam Blaney, Aryana Booker-Gamaz, Lulu Boone, Noelle Brubaker, Caitlin Burke, Delaney Cass, Calise Cowans, Hayden Crum, Summer Curtright, Olivia Davidson, Caroline Elston, Robert Felter, Payton Frederick, Arianna Gaiter, Da'Marie Grayson, Isaac Lott, Zoeie McCann, Mackenzie McPherson, Aubrie Moon, Devontez Moses, Liv Rocco, Zuri Rue, Zion Rumble, Olivia Safran, Peyton Sarafis, Jae Saunders, Tommaso Scuoteguazza, Adam Steiner, Larissa Wagner, and Gia Zinn.
The Chamber Choir can be seen next as part of the high school holiday concerts, which are coming up on December 10 and December 12.