Four Choral Conducting Students Selected for National Collegiate Choir

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From left to right: Taylor Wilson, Molly Magouyrk, Lauren Suchy, Corey Swann

Four choral conducting students in the undergraduate music education program and singers in the UA Schola Cantorum have been selected to sing with the National Collegiate Choir organized by the American Choral Directors Association. The National Collegiate Choir convenes every other year during the Biennial ACDA conference, this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 8-11. The American Choral Directors Association selects only one distinguished music program from each state in the country for representation in the choir, which totals more than 200 of the most talented singers and young conductors in the country.

Juniors Lauren Suchy and Corey Swann were chosen along with seniors Molly Magouyrk and Taylor Wilson. Stephen Caldwell, director of choral activities at the U of A, remarked, "These four students represent the very best of the University of Arkansas and of our choral music eduation program. I'm confident they will add to the diversity of talent represented in this great choir."

Along with singing in the National Collegiate Choir, these students will get a front row seat to the ACDA conference which brings together thousands of conductors from across the country from a variety of diciplines. They will observe master conductors in rehearsal and performance, as well as attend lectures about choral pedagogy and conducting technique.

They have been preparing for weeks already, as each student must learn and memorize a number of technically difficult pieces. "I've spent hours preparing the music, but I really like the challenge of it," said Lauren Suchy, a soprano and junior music education major. Senior Molly Magouryk is the longest tenured singer in the UA Schola Cantorum, and after graduating with a degree in biology in 2014 returned to the U of A to pursue choral music education. "Singing with Schola Cantorum has prepared us for the National Collegiate Choir," said Magouyrk, "and we look forward to representing Arkansas and Schola."