The Grissom Chamber Choir
Tucker Ratcliff, Director
Grissom Choir has held a standard of excellence for the vast majority of its active years at Grissom High School. Upwards of 130 Grissom High School students are current members of one or more of the 4 curricular choirs: The Women's Chorus, Men's Chorus, Concert Choir, and premier: The Chamber Choir. As part of the Huntsville City School's School System, the mission of Grissom Choir is to provide an all-inclusive choral music education, and provide it's stakeholders with choral music opportunities of the highest calibre. Holding a standard of excellence for the vast majority of its active years at Grissom High School, Grissom Choir is consistently known for its dedication to classical choral singing, as well as its inclusion of contemporary repertoire. Every year, each choir in the department scores (Straight & Overall) Superior & Excellent Ratings at Choral Performance Assessments, as well as at the Alabama Solo & Ensemble Festival. Many of our students are involved in Huntsville's All-City Choral Festival, as well as Alabama's All-State Choral Festival each year, with students being selected as City, District, and State Outstanding Choral Students. Over the past 8 years, Grissom Choir has risen to be one of Alabama's premier high-school choral programs, receiving invitations to perform across the state, nation, and world. Grissom Choir has performed alongside the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra ('19), on the Carnegie Hall Stage ('18), in the Alabama Music Educators Association In-Service Conference ('22), at the ACDA Collegiate Choral Festival (’23) and at the State Capitol ('23, ’24), and internationally on a custom, Costa-Rican Concert Tour to San José and Arenal, sharing music with its citizens and collaborating with Costa Rica ACDA (’23). This coming summer, Grissom Choir will embark on a Performance Tour to New York City, and has also been invited to perform at the Alabama ACDA Summer Conference, an overwhelming testament to the amount of dedication and love our students have towards their passions.
The Chamber Choir was established in 2018 and is the auditioned, advanced ensemble open to students in 10th-12th grade at Grissom High School, taking claim to performing 4-8 part literature at concerts, assessments, and the other prestigious events throughout the Huntsville area and state of Alabama. During its years of existence, the ensemble has grown exponentially in character, morale and skill. The Chamber Choir learns upwards of 20 songs each school year, performing extra concerts and tours throughout the year on-top of their three regularly scheduled concerts. Each year, students are selected based upon their execution of a self-prepared song, sight-reading, scales, work ethic, and attitude during the previous school year. Students must maintain a level of music proficiency that would enable them to be a contributing member of this premier, collegiate-level ensemble.
The Chamber Choir was established in 2018 and is the auditioned, advanced ensemble open to students in 10th-12th grade at Grissom High School, taking claim to performing 4-8 part literature at concerts, assessments, and the other prestigious events throughout the Huntsville area and state of Alabama. During its years of existence, the ensemble has grown exponentially in character, morale and skill. The Chamber Choir learns upwards of 20 songs each school year, performing extra concerts and tours throughout the year on-top of their three regularly scheduled concerts. Each year, students are selected based upon their execution of a self-prepared song, sight-reading, scales, work ethic, and attitude during the previous school year. Students must maintain a level of music proficiency that would enable them to be a contributing member of this premier, collegiate-level ensemble.
The Ensemble of Auburn First United Methodist Church
Joey Wilkinson, Director of Music Ministries
The Ensemble of Auburn UMC is a select vocal group composed of members from the Chancel Choir of Auburn UMC. This ensemble regularly participates in worship experiences throughout the church year, heralding more challenging sacred choral literature. One of the group's more enjoyable approaches to worship leadership is sharing compositions and arrangements written today’s composers.
