Texas Girls’ Choir hosts seventh annual Children’s Universal Music Festival

by PegNews wire

The Texas Girls’ Choir is sponsoring their sixth Children’s Universal Music Festival June 27th through July 2nd. The final Concert of the Children’s Universal Music Festival will be held in the Nancy Lee & Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, on Sunday, July 1, 200 at 7:30 PM.

Choirs performing in the Festival include the VOENA Children’s Choir from Benicia, California under the direction of Annabelle Marie; the Pennsylvania Youth Chorale directed by founder, Eileen Finley; the Estudiantina Guadalupana Potosina (Mexico Boys Choir) from San Luis Potosi, Mexico; directed by Cesar Cervantes Diaz de Sandi and the 2007 Children’s Universal Music Festival’s Festival Choir comprised of choral students, girls and boys, ages 8 to 16, from the metroplex, representing their school or church choir. Dr. Julian Ackerley, professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson and conductor of the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, will direct the Festival Choir.

Each Choir will perform selections to include: music by the masters, a song of their country and an a cappella piece. Judges for the competition are Mrs. Jolene Webster, Director of Secondary Choral Music at Paschal High School, and a clinician, adjudicator, and consultant for choral and solo organizations across the state, nationally and internationally; Mr. Charles Duke, founder of the first choral program at Castleberry High School, organist and soloist for Greenwood and Mount Olivet Funeral Homes and Minister of Music at First Christian Church in Fort Worth and Carlos Enrique Rivera from San Juan, Puerto Rico – Associate Music Director and Administrative Director at the Coro Polifonico, where he conducts the handbell and vocal choirs. He is also the director of the Second Union Church Choir.

Crystal Thornton, host of the International TV show entitled “The Master’s Music”, will be the Mistress of Ceremonies for the fifth year for the Concert. Crystal was previously seen in the metroplex on WB33.

All of the visiting choirs, the Festival Choir and 145 members of the Texas Girls’ Choir will fill the stage for the Finale of the Concert. Over three hundred singers will perform four pieces together. Fort Worth’s own Jack Noble White has written a medley entitled Come On Down! “A Visit To Cowtown!” especially for the festival, which will be performed as part of the Finale. The Finale will end with the international wish for our world “Let There Be Peace On Earth” by Moore and Jackson. Dr. Ackerley will direct the choir for the Finale.

The Children’s Universal Music Festival was founded by Shirley Thompson Carter in 1999. Shirley Carter was also the Founder of the Texas Girls' Choir and its Executive Director for 40 years. Unfortunately, Ms. Carter passed away suddenly on December 10, 2002 as she was preparing for one of the choir’s many holiday performances. All future Children's Universal Music Festival performances will be in memory of its founder Shirley Carter.

The Texas Girls' Choir will perform while the judges are completing their critiques of the visiting choirs.

The Concert at the Bass Hall ends the 2007 Children’s Universal Music Festival. The visiting choir members will be staying in homes during their visit to the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex. The choirs will perform at Six Flags Over Texas on Friday, June 29, 2007. The VOENA International Children’s Choir will perform during the morning worship service at First Christian Church in downtown Fort Worth and the Estudiantina Guadalupana Potosina (Mexico Boys Choir) will perform during the 10 AM mass at All Saints Catholic Church on Sunday, July 1, 2007.

All of the children participating in the 2007 Children’s Universal Music Festival will have a wonderful cultural exchange experience as they perform with children from other states and countries.

Tickets for the 2007 Children’s Universal Music Festival Concert on Sunday, July 1st, are on sale at the Nancy Lee & Perry R. Bass Performance Hall Ticket Office – (817) 212-4280 and online at www.basshall.com. For more information, please phone the Texas Girls’ Choir Office – (817) 732-8161.

Source: Texas Girls Choir