Academy students to perform with county, state choirs
When the All-County choir performs at South Fort Myers High School on Friday, there will be a large contingent of North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts students performing.
Meanwhile, a quartet has been invited to sing in the All-State choir which will perform in Tampa early next year.
Eight students will take part in the All-County choir concert for middle school students, the maximum a school is allowed to have participate.
According to Debbie Trout, Academy for the Arts music director, to be able participate in the event is an accomplishment.
“You have to be chosen by the music director just to try out,” Trout said. “We had 60 kids try out for the choir.”
The competition at the school is fierce, never mind the county. Trout said she has 32 members of the fourth- and fifth-grade choir and 58 more in the two middle-school choirs.
From there, there was another tryout at South Fort Myers High School last week.
Those who qualified were Ian Wolf, Hannah Steele, Jesse Massari, Jorge Flores, Mark King, Mercedes Lewellen, Nayda Baez and Lily LaChapelle.
For Wolf, it was a great accomplishment, especially since it was the second straight year he’s doing it.
“It’s an honor to be in the choir. If people pick you for it, it’s awesome to be in it,” Wolf said. “There were so many great singers to choose from and I was lucky to get picked.”
Wolf added he isn’t nervous, having done this before and since he’s sung since age 2.
Wolf is an alto, the second-highest octave someone in a choir can sing. The others are soprano, being the highest, tenor and bass, the lowest.
While those eight perform locally, four others have a more exclusive engagement in January at the Music Teachers Convention in Tampa as they will take part in the All-State choir.
Jennara Taylor, Raegan Denny, Leska LaLoach and Jazmine Gable will be four-fifths of the Lee County contingent.
“Only five students from each school are allowed to send in audition CDs, and only five from Lee County were chosen,” Trout said. “We were truly blessed to have four from here.”
Especially blessed is Dr. Douglas Santini, principal of the Academy for the Arts.
“It’s an honor. The kids here are talented. It makes you proud when you see what they do,” Santini said. “They stand out as young people.”