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 We are excited to announce that Lux Choir has been nominated for two Wammie Awards! Lux has received a nomination for Best Choral Group; and our Christmas album, My Lord Has Come, has received a nomination for Best Choral Album. To vote, you must create an account on the Wammie Awards website here. Voters must be residents of Maryland, DC, or Virginia to be considered eligible. After registering and confirming your email, you can go to the awards hub and vote for the artists or works nominated for each award. You can vote for as many nominees as you feel are deserving for each award; however, you may only vote once. To find and vote for Lux, you can search either by award or by group. Voting ends on January 31st, after which finalists will be announced for each award. Winners will then be selected from the groups of finalists by a panel of 50+ regional music industry professionals.
The Wammie Awards is a 32-year-old awards show curated by The MusicianShip, a DC-area organization dedicated to the enrichment of youth lives through music. The Wammie Awards aim to celebrate music creatives from DC, Maryland, and Virginia and highlight their work and their impact on the region. You can read more about the Wammie Awards by visiting their website here.
Although the program begins with ancient chant, Lux's love of contemporary choral music still shines through: The final chant programmed in the series is a newly-commissioned chant melody from Maryland-based composer Christen Holmes, and the culminating event of the series is the virtual world-premiere of the winning piece from their Composition Contest, which closes on December 12. Of the program, director Robby Napoli said, "I'm very excited about the novelty of the program, and I think it will be a welcome change from the virtual performances we've recently been inundated with. Most of all though, I'm excited that we've been able to tailor this season so perfectly to our mission, and I absolutely cannot wait to bring two brand new pieces to life." The first release of the program, which is completely free to all, will be available on Lux's website beginning in early December. To learn more about Lux or buy their newest Christmas CD, visit their website at www.ChoirLux.com. Support the singing you love.Offerings like Christmas From Home are only possible with your help! Whether $5 or $5,000, consider supporting this project by giving to our Winter Donor Drive. Need a little more incentive? Our Donor Rewards program is our way of saying "thank you"! Click here and see what you'll receive for gifts as low as $50!
Earlier this week, in conjunction with our Education Initiative, we released our first-ever Virtual Choir! In the midst of the COVID-19 Crisis this year, we wanted to create a performance opportunity for some of our local high school choirs, so we teamed up with three amazing HS choirs in the state of Maryland to sing one more song before the end of their school year. Over the course of three weeks, students used Lux practice tracks, and participated in recorded mini-masterclasses to describe how our singers would prepare a piece like this for rehearsals, performances, and recording projects. Many thanks to all those who helped us celebrate these amazing choirs and their hard work this year both in person and online as we premiered our first collaboration with these schools! A special thanks, of course, goes to directors Mrs. Kelly Butler (Walter Johnson HS, Montgomery County), Mr. Robby Napoli (Chesapeake HS, Anne Arundel County), and Ms. Amy Vanek (Clarksburg HS), as well as all of their singers for collaborating with us on this project. See the video right here on this post to hear the final product and continue supporting Maryland's young choral artists!
It’s finally senior year! How’re you feeling about that?
"I have mixed feelings, because I’m so excited about many of the projects that I’m working on, and don’t want them to end! But I am also ready to be out of school, haha." Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year? "Our opera workshop is doing an opera in French this year, and I am helping coach the language! It has been really fun combining my passion for French language and culture with opera." What’s been your favorite experience studying music in college? "I have interned with the choral department for two semesters now, and by far my favorite experience has been conducting our upper-voice ensemble, Audeamus. I have really enjoyed seeing them grow vocally and musically!" Okay, so, recital time. Let’s start with the easy question. When and where is your recital? "It will be February 29th (yeah that’s leap day!) at 7 pm, in Schmucker Hall at Gettysburg College." What’s your favorite piece on your recital? Why? "My opener! I don’t want to give too much away, because it’s a bit of performance art, but it’s not like anything I’ve ever sung before. It’s also by a composer who graduated from my school last year, so I’ve been able to coach it with him and really get into the nuance and expression of the piece." How has the recital process been for you? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all? "I have been working on some of this music since last semester, but there is also a significant portion that I have learned in the last few weeks. So getting it all together at the same time was really a journey! But I’m really excited about my program, and can’t wait to share it with my audience!" If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be? "My overall concept is probably the most important part. I begin with three pieces by student-composers, followed with a piece by their composition teacher here at Gettysburg. The next set was composed by his graduate professor, followed by his teacher, and so on. Finishing in the early baroque, I hope to take the audience on a journey back through the evolution of compositional styles!"
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