More than 100 students from 23 area high schools have been accepted into the Northeast Community College HAWKFEST.
HAWKFEST is an annual honor band and honor choir festival hosted in the Lifelong Learning Center. Students audition for the opportunity to make music in a new environment. They will spend an intense day of rehearsal culminating in an early evening concert.
The honor choir will be performing several selections including a traditional Lakota lullaby.
“A goal of the festival is to provide not only growth of the students’ musicianship, but to become aware of the rich heritage of cultural ideas embedded in the variety of musical literature,” said Margaret Schultz, Choir director. “Chante Waste Hoksila is such a piece, in that the students will be singing in the Lakota language. Lakota is focused on community and an acknowledgement of neighbors and family members. It is dedicated to the victims of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.”
The honor band will also perform several selections that include a descriptive piece about an incident during World War II. The final selection of the evening will have the Choir, Band, and the directors perform Thank You Soldiers together.
“I think it’s great to get these young musicians together,” said Kevin McLouth, Band. “Usually they are ‘rivals’ from different schools, but here they get to work together to make something beautiful.”
This program is free and open to the public. The concert will start at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 6, in the Lifelong Learning Center on the Northeast Community College Campus.
Choir Practice
Margaret Schultz, Northeast Choir director, rehearses with students prior to HAWKFEST in 2024. This year’s event will take place on Monday, October 6. (Northeast Community College)
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