EGHS musicians earn spots in IMEA honor choir

On Oct. 6, 786 high school students auditioned for a place in the Illinois Music Educators Association District 7 Honor Choir. Six Elk Grove High School students auditioned, and three were chosen for this prestigious honor: junior Olga Bednarek and seniors Marisa Marques and Deanna Voss.

The auditioning students prepared the following: "Hallelujah" from the Mount of Olives, Beethoven; "The Last Words of David," Randall Thompson; "Lay A Garland," Purcell; "Hold On!", Moses Hogan; "Bloom," Philip E. Silvey. In addition to the prepared selections, they were tested on tonal skills.

Bednarek, Marques, and Voss have qualified for All-State and will know in December if they have been selected to that elite level.

"This was the largest number of choral students Elk Grove has ever taken to audition and the most the school has ever had place in the District 7 choir," said Elk Grove choral director Renee DeJager. "The young women worked diligently to master reading and tonal skills, along with five difficult pieces of music. Their concert will be on Saturday, Nov. 21."