District 218 schools lend their voices for Choir Festival

By Kelly White

Singing their way into the season are students at Community High School District 218.

Students from Eisenhower High School, Richards High School and Shepard High School held a Choir Festival last week at Shepard High School, 13049 S. Ridgeland Ave. in Palos Heights.

“For a lot of people around world, music is one of the most binding things among cultures, so to be able to come together as a community and enjoy music brought to us by our peers among each other is such a beautiful experience and fun to share a song with the other schools in our district,” said Shepard High School student, Alex Richardson, 17, of Crestwood.

Director of Choral Activities Liza Calisesi-Maidens (far left) with the District 218 choir directors and accompanists at the district’s Choir Festival on September 28.

As a special treat, Dr. Liza Calisesi-Maidens, the Director of Choirs at the University of Illinois at Chicago, served as the clinician of the Choir Festival. She led an open clinic on stage in front of all students.

Each high school was able to bring two choirs and each had the opportunity to perform twice in front of Calisesi-Maidens. Because the event took place during the school day, it was a closed event with limited faculty and students in attendance.

“Liza (Calisesi-Maidens) is a friend of mine; she’s an amazing choral conductor, who I know will give great feedback to every choir,” said Roland Hatcher, Choir Teacher at Shepard High School. “I also know she is eager to work with more high schools in the Chicago area, and it seemed like a perfect fit for her to be able to potentially recruit some students to UIC, since a lot of our kids look at going there anyway.”

Calisesi-Maidens provided feedback for each choir after they sang, and conducted the combined piece at the end, entitled “Let the River Run,” a choir arrangement of the Carly Simon song, arranged by Craig Hella Johnson.

Nearly 150 students performed during the event, all of whom were in the district’s honors level choirs, sophomores through seniors. Students have been preparing for their fall choir concerts during class and proudly shared music they have been working on since the beginning of the school year.

“I love the sharing of music. I learn so much from my choir colleagues and I feel strongly that it’s such a great opportunity for the kids to showcase their hard work, and how great they sound for one another,” Hatcher said.

The festival started off as a replacement event, Hatcher explained.

“Every year, our conference performs in an SSC (South Suburban College) Choir Festival, where all 14 schools come together and sing,” Hatcher said. “However, with COVID concerns last year, the event was pared down, and we decided to do our ‘pared down version’ as a district. The District 218 Choir Festival provides a chance for the choir kids in our school district to connect, celebrate the great work they do, and share music with one another.”

Students responded positively to the new experience.

“I was excited to see the variety among the different choirs in the district,” Richards High School student, Emily Cook, 17, of Oak Lawn, said.  I believed that each group had a lot to offer and we could learn from each other’s interpretations of music. I was interested to see what the other choirs were performing this year.”

“What I looked forward to most about the choir festival was being able to observe the change between when the choir practices and when the choir performs,” Eisenhower High School student, Monica Montoya, 17, of Blue Island, said. “When we’re on stage, there’s a very palpable collective shift in our demeanor. All the effort and decorum we have during rehearsals is heightened and refined, the humor and mischief is sort of pocketed for the time being, though it’s definitely present while we practice; I can tell that we all want to impress whoever’s watching.”

Community High School District 218 held a Choir Festival on September 28 at Shepard High School, 13049 S Ridgeland Ave. in Palos Heights.