Shelby Corral of the Las Vegas Youth Choristers sings during a combined rehearsal at Cannon Middle School.Mike Stotts/View
Marlene Karas/ViewSoprano Holly Spencer of the Leavitt Middle School choir practices on March 21. Leavitt students will join students from Cannon Middle School and the Las Vegas Youth Choristers for a trip to Chicago, and a performance at Ham Hall on the campus of UNLV on Sunday.
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Middle school students from all over the Las Vegas Valley are coming together to sing at UNLV's Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall on Sunday and at Chicago's Orchestra Hall on April 30.
The group, made up of students from Cannon Middle School in the Southeast, Leavitt Middle School in the Northwest, and the Las Vegas Youth Choristers, is directed by West Middle School Assistant Principal Randy Pagel.
"It is very unique," said Jason Reed, Cannon's choir director. "I don't know any other middle schools that are doing this kind of music. I did this in college."
The 85 Leavitt students and the 17 Cannon students are performing selections of Pergolesi's "Magnificat" and Mozart's "Te Deum," in addition to their class and festival music.
"This is more of a college repertoire than a middle school," said Victoria Ligon, Leavitt's choir director. "It was a little challenging."
"I like to challenge kids at this age," said Pagel, who chose the music. "I like to set the bar high."
The Choristers, a group of students who have worked with Pagel in the past, have been meeting along with Cannon students once a week since November to prepare for the performances, and the Leavitt students also have been rehearsing on their own once a week. The group will come together for the first time only once before the Ham Hall performance, but Ligon said it is pretty normal for choirs to work separately until the last minute.
Ligon said she knows it will all come together because "There's a certain musicianship people have, and I know Jason has it from talking to him, and I know Randy has it from working with him."
Pagel said he's been invited to bring his choir to many locations around the country, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Every year, he asks two or three local schools to get involved and takes them along.
"I bring my alumni chorus and my friends who I think can handle the responsibility," he said.
Pagel was the choir teacher at White Middle School for 14 years before moving into administration. He said conducting students on trips means he can take on a different role professionally while still working with choir students. Pagel has been a guest conductor in 25 states and started by conducting a choir when he was 13.
Middle school students usually do not perform this level of music, go on elaborate trips or get the experience of performing in a famous music hall, Ligon said.
Ligon said she is excited to offer the experience to her students.
"I get involved, so they get involved. When you get involved as a director, your kids get involved. If the teacher gets excited, the kids get excited," she said.
Both schools have been fundraising since they learned about the trip at the end of last year. Reed said that even with a $1,500 scholarship from former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, it has been hard to get some of the Cannon students on the trip because they don't have the funds.
He said they still need to earn money for meals and any activities they will do while in Chicago. The schools have had garage sales and sold candy and cookie dough, along with many other activities to try to get as many children as possible on the trip.
While in Chicago, students will take in the sights, and the group from Leavitt will see the musical "Wicked."
In addition to students, teachers and a high school student also will perform in Chicago. Reed will perform as the bass soloist, Ligon as the soprano soloist, Greenspun Junior High School choir director Heather Gunderson as the alto soloist, and Coronodo High School student Ryan Beyer as the tenor soloist.
Beyer also has joined the middle school students' choir in addition to the three choirs at his own school.
"It's been a bit stressful," he said. "I have been in choir so long that you kind of learn how to learn music and get through it without it going all wrong."
Pagel will direct the Las Vegas Youth Choristers at 3 p.m. on Sunday in UNLV's Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall.
The concert also will feature, under the direction of Douglas R. Peterson, the 60-voice Musical Arts Chorus, 38-piece Musical Arts Orchestra, and guest soloists Jennifer Kittinger Loss, soprano; Juline Barol-Gilmore, mezzo soprano; and Gerald Grahame, tenor.
The Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society also will perform Felix Mendelssohn's symphony-cantata "Hymn of Praise."
Admission to the concert is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors or members of the military.
Students with ID will be admitted free.
For more information, call the UNLV Performing Center Box Office at 895-2787.
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