ILMEA State Honors Chorus

Based on her audition at the district level back in October, Annah was notified after the ILMEA District Festival Concert in November that she'd been chosen to participate in the state HONORS Chorus this year!  (Last year, she participated in the All-State Chorus, and the Honors Chorus is an even higher level!) To say the very least, we are proud of her and so glad and thankful that she has had these opportunities!  She has learned so much, and is inspired for her future role as a much educator!

Early Thursday morning, and Annah went over to the Illinois Music Educators' Conference in Peoria. Annah spent about 12 hours rehearsing on Thursday, same on Friday, and was at rehearsal at 6:40 a.m. this morning as well.  And she loved every minute of it!

Yesterday, I was texted a picture of where Annah was standing within the choir so we would be able to find her in the sea of 200 singers... 

Jeremy drove us all over to Peoria in a snowstorm this afternoon.  We arrived in time to meet Annah in the lobby just before she had to get ready for the concert.

It was tricky to find a spot where we could see Annah well.  Once we sat down, I realized she was behind a tall speaker.

Though there are about 200 students in the Honors Choir, it was announced at the start of the concert that over 26,000 students auditioned for the ensembles performing today, and about 1000 were chosen.  It is a huge honor to be one of those students!

The Honors Band (far right) performed first, then the Honors Chorus, then the Honors Orchestra.

There was close up video on the jumbotron.

Annah wore a red and black choir robe borrowed from a neighboring school (Gibson City) because Ridgeview doesn't have choir robes. She was easy to find in her bright red!

I only took a few short video clips during the performance, because I wasn't able to get a good view. But the Chorus was amazing!  Even in a huge stadium they sounded like they were in a cathedral!

For the Grande Finale, all three ensembles joined together to perform America, The Beautiful!  

It was incredible!

There's our girl!  Maybe someday she will be the guest conductor for an All-State Chorus?!  

A new dream may have been inspired this weekend.