SPHA Chamber Choir participates at UA festival

The Spain Park High School Chamber Choir was recently invited to perform as the guest performing choir at the 30th Annual University of Alabama Honor Choir Festival. This was the first time a choir from Spain Park High School has been invited to participate.

The 25 Spain Park students sang alongside more than 130 other high school choir students from across the region, led by Troy Robertson, the director of choirs at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.

The choir performed an arrangement they selected composed of “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” an Estonian song called “Õhtul” and “The Wisdom of the Moon,” featuring Spain Park senior soloist Anna Morgan.

Choir director Jim Schaeffer, a former member of the Honor Choir, jumped at the chance to showcase the Chamber Choir at his alma mater.

“I always looked forward to sitting and singing with the high school students on those long rehearsal days,” Schaeffer said. “It was an honor to have the opportunity to share this experience with my own students.”

The experience was not only special for Schaeffer, but for the students as well.

“[Singing as a part of the Guest Performing Choir] gave me the opportunity to work with a wonderful clinician and learn some really great music,” senior Wesley Whetstone said. “Working with other members outside of Spain Park is always exciting because it gives you the chance to meet other people who genuinely share the same passion for singing and music that you do.”

Submitted by Anna Gilstrap.