The 25th annual Twin Cities Honor Choir concert, held April 4th at the Rocky Bayou Baptist Church, celebrated 25 years of musical and choral excellence in the Niceville area schools. The Twin Cities Honor Choir was founded in 1996 by Music teachers Barry Blackburn, Anne Jolley, Ginny Jordan, and Kim Weaver. Their goal was to provide a showcase for the musical talents and skills of the best 5th-grade choir students, as well as give these students exposure the some of the best college, high school, and middle school choral programs in the state of Florida. Since that time the Twin Cities Honor Choir program has been a model used by several counties throughout Southern United States. This is the only such event in Northwest Florida that showcases students of a variety of ages and talents at all levels, Elementary through college. Since its inception, the Twin Cities Honor Choir has had over three thousand 5th graders and thousands of middle school, high school, and college students participate in the program and concerts. It has had a huge impact on the students and the music programs in Okaloosa County. This concert has always been funded by the generous support and donations of the Twin Cities community.
The schools performing were Bluewater Elementary School (Barry Blackburn), Edge Elementary School (Linda Hayes), Plew Elementary School (Sarah Mayo), Lewis School (Kaite McHuire Menges), Ruckel Middle School (Catherine Feazell), and Niceville High School (Catherine Feazell). The music directors at these schools have been working with their students for months to prepare this concert for you. Barry Blackburn this year’s Twin Cities Choir Clinician and director stated, "This has truly been a labor of love for over 25 years solely funded by support from the Niceville community." Michelle Tredway was the accompanist the evening.
The 5th grade Honor choir performed five songs, “Jambo, Karibo Kwa Africa” written by Patsy Ford Sims; “Go Down Moses” by Roger Emerson; “Adoramus Te” by Emily Crocker; “Don Gato” by Roger Doughty; and “Tiger! Tiger!” by William Blake.
The Encore Chorus from Lewis School performed “Pie Jesu” by Tom Shelton and “Keep Your Lamps” by Victor C. Johnson.
The Ambassador Chorus from Ruckel Middle School performed “Thistle and Rose” by Phyllis Wolfe-White and “I Am” by Cristian Grases.
Niceville Singers from Niceville High School performed "Prayer of Compassion" by contemporary American composer Gwyneth Walker and “Hela Rotan” arranged by Ken Steven.
The final piece performed by all six choirs was final piece was “Why We Sing” by Greg Galpin.
Thank you to everyone for supporting this wonderful event.