Academy concert and select choir students attended Nā Leo Hou: Hawaii All-State Choral Festival from Feb. 11-13 where Nā Leo Hou strives to showcase the best of choral education in Hawaii.

Over the course of two days, participants completed a musical sight reading test, learned a hula, and made new friendships.

Senior Ally Montiel said, “It is a bittersweet feeling when I attended my last choir festival this past weekend. I am grateful to have met amazing people from other schools around the island and the opportunity to sing with them at the concert.”

Nā Leo Hou brings together over 200 hundred high school singers from across the islands under the direction of an outstanding clinician. This year the participants learned five pieces with world-renowned conductor Tesfa Wondemagegnehu.

Wondemagegnehu is the conductor of the American Public Media(APM) Radio Choir and manager of the choral works Initiative for APM.He has performed in the United States and abroad as a tenor soloist. Wondemagegnehu hails from Minnesota.

Concluding the festival was a concert of the Nā Leo Hou Festival Choir on Feb. 13 at Central Union Church which featured adjudicated performances by several of the participating schools and community choirs.

The Academy choir performed “No Time” by Susan Brumfield and “Tundra” by Ola Gjello.

As the festival chorus took the stage, a calabash offering was taken, which helps support programs and festivals like Nā Leo Hou across the state.