Young singers take top honors; retiring leader ends proud career

Warwick Valley choral groups excel at spring competitions Warwick — In recent choral events, retiring vocal director Lois Heller once again attained honors with the Warwick Valley High School Meistersingers and Women’s Chorus. On June 1, the WVHS Women’s Chorus attended the Music in the Parks competition in Lakewood, N.J., competing against 17 choirs from across the tri-state region and one choir from Maryland. The WVHS Women’s Chorus placed first in the High School Women’s Chorus division. In addition, they placed first out of eight high school choirs to receive the Overall Best High School Choir award. Further, the Women’s Chorus received the highest rating/score in the entire festival. “I am enormously proud of the accomplishments of this group of singers,” Heller said. “They have worked extremely hard to attain this level of achievement.” The Women’s Chorus was accompanied by Joshua Tanis, who also participates in Meistersingers. Tierney Crone, a Women’s Chorus member, was one of three students from the competition chosen to receive a special award -- Best Overall Soloist -- in the music festival. Prior to this event, on May 24, the WVHS Meistersingers and Women’s Chorus, once again under the direction of Lois Heller, performed at the NYSSMA (New York State Schools Music Association) Majors Choral Festival, held at Wallkill High School. This festival is a venue for instrumental and choral groups from across New York. Each group is evaluated on its own merits and each group receives critical feedback from the judges. Both the Meistersingers and Women’s Chorus received the highest honor awarded to any group: a Gold with Distinction medal. The Meistersingers performed at level six, which, according to NYSSMA standards, is the most difficult. Comments from the adjudicators included, “Lovely, warm singing”; “Great attention and sensitivity to detail”; “Dynamic energy”; “Exciting beautiful singing”; “Bravo, soloists! Wonderful tone quality”; “Purity of vowels”; “Dynamic contrasts”; and “Bravo!” The Women’s Chorus performed at level five. Comments from the adjudicators included, “Wonderful dance-like singing which projects the listener always forward”; “Congratulations on negotiating these unusual intervals in the melody”; “Wonderful in tune chords”; “Great work”; “Bravo and brava!” and “Keep up the excellent singing.” Both the WVHS Meistersingers and Women’s Chorus have been under the direction of Lois Heller for the past 13 years. The achievement of receiving these awards is especially significant to her as she will retire from her position as high school vocal music director in the Warwick Valley School District at the end of this school year.