Where your top choir students encounter the collegiate choral experience!
SBU High School Invitational Choir
Grades 9-12 | Cost: Free
Saturday, February 10, 2024
(Weather contingency date: Saturday, February 17, 2024)
Chosen through directors' nominations, select high school singers merge with the university's premier choral ensemble, the Chorale, for a day of rehearsals leading to the formal evening concert of significant repertoire.
Invited singers will
- Perform and rehearse in partnership with university singers in creating a once-in-a-lifetime concert
- Experience the focus of preparing challenging choral repertoire
- Gain an enduring context of the art which they will bring back to their schools
- Learn and use proper vocal technique as it relates to choral tone and personal vocal growth
- Bring home a higher level of confidence in themselves and their possibilities
Nomination Deadline: February 2, 2024
No nomination fee!
Invitation Acceptance
Directors will be notified of student invitations on February 2, 2024. Please notify students of their invitation and assure their online response (yes or no) no later than February 5, 2024.
2024 Repertoire
Psalm 117: Laudate Jehovam - Georg Philipp Telemann
"i carry your heart with me" - Jonathan Reid
"Garden Song" - Alex T. Favazza, Jr.
"I Believe" - Mark Miller "Until I Reach My Home" - traditional, arr. Brandon Boyd
Event Schedule
February 10, 2024
| Time | Event |
| 9:00 a.m. | Registration, Casebolt Music Center Lobby store performance attire in Casebolt MU 101 |
| 9:30 a.m. | Rehearsal, Casebolt MU 104 Including sectionals (Casebolt MU 104 (S), 116 (B), 107 (T), Meyer RH (A)) |
| 12:00 a.m. | Lunch – Marketplace (Dining facility) |
| 1:00 p.m. | Rehearsal |
| 2:00 p.m. | Break |
| 2:15 p.m. | Rehearsal |
| 3:30 p.m. | Break |
| 3:45 p.m. | Final Rehearsal and Cue to Cue (Pike Auditorium) |
| 4:15 p.m. | Dress for Concert |
| 4:45 p.m. | Places – SBU Chorale backstage; Invitational Choir front rows of Pike |
| 5:00 p.m. | Concert (Pike Auditorium) |
Conductor Bio
Dr. Alex T. Favazza, Jr. is Head of the Division of the Arts at Southwest Baptist University where he also serves as Director of Choral Studies and conducts the SBU Chorale, Chamber Singers and University Singers. Before joining the SBU faculty, Dr. Favazza was Director of Choral Activities at the University of New Hampshire and Conductor of New Hampshire’s oldest choral society, Rockingham Choral Society. As an active guest clinician, Dr. Favazza has conducted honor choir performances in Maine, New Hampshire, Missouri, and Florida as well as led composition masterclasses in the U.S. and Indonesia, presented at conferences in New England, and lectured at universities across the United States.
Favazza’s research interests include Choral Literature, Estonian choral music, and Music Education. He holds a Ph.D. in Music Education specializing in Choral Conducting from Florida State University, M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi, and B.M. in Vocal Music Education from Middle Tennessee State University. A native of Tennessee, Dr. Favazza began his career as a public high school choir director in Memphis, TN.
As a composer, Dr. Favazza’s choral works are published by Hinshaw Music and Colla Voce Music. His compositions have been performed by numerous all-state and regional honor choirs as well as collegiate, high school, community and religious choirs throughout the United States. Additionally, Dr. Favazza holds membership in the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO), and College Music Society (CMS). He also serves on the music staff at All Saints Anglican Church in Springfield, MO. Dr. Favazza, his wife Melanie, and their children Tripp and Eleanor currently live in Bolivar, MO and attend First Baptist Church, Bolivar.