Participants sang in small and large groups under the direction of Voices in the Laurel Artistic Director Martha Brown. When they weren’t singing, each child learned to play the mountain dulcimer with Anne Lough and had his or her choice of class lessons in guitar, percussion or piano. The week ended with a demonstration performance from each of the instrument classes and a choral concert, complete with choreography.   

“I wish we could do it for more than a week,” said first-grade participant Miley Stover.

The new choir season for Voices in the Laurel begins on Aug. 14. The choir consists of singers in first-12th grades that are divided into three choral ensembles. First- and second-graders may join without an audition. Singers in third through 12th grades must pass a musical audition. Open auditions will be held from 5-6 p.m. on Aug. 13 and 20 at First Baptist Church in Waynesville.

 Voices in the Laurel is a Haywood County based nonprofit choir for young people from Haywood, Buncombe, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties under the direction of Martha Brown. Voices in the Laurel provides choristers the opportunity to participate in performance tours all over the world. Some of the places Voices in the Laurel has performed are: with the Asheville Lyric Opera at the Diana Wortham Theater; Charleston’s “Little Spoleto” Festival; opened for Dolly Parton in her Christmas show at Dollywood; with Ronnie Milsap at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; the national anthem at Atlanta Braves games; at a Cincinnati Reds game; the Pacific Rim Children’s Choir Festival in Hawaii; the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.; the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York; St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan; Westminster Abbey in London; Chartres Cathedral in France; and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Voices in the Laurel Chamber Choir just returned from a summer 2012 performance tour in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain.

www.voicesinthelaurel.com, find us on Facebook, or call 828.734.8413.