Portage Northern Song Leaders, Treble Ensemble, and Huskie Harmonizers are all competing to go to this year’s All-State solo and ensemble. Although very doable, the process of making it there is not easy.

This begins with the district choral festival, which all 3 choirs attended. “Choirs had to attend District Solo & Ensemble and receive a Division I rating or higher. Which means their score had to be above 23 points,” shared choir director Chelsea Whiteoak. “Song leaders & Treble ensemble scored 30/30 points & Huskie Harmonizers scored 29/30.”

After Districts, the choirs move on to states. At the state festival choirs are required to score a 25 or higher to be considered for All-State. “The All-State Festival adjudicator at a State Solo & Ensemble Festival may choose up to five Large Ensembles that meet the standards required for performance at the Solo & Ensemble Recital for consideration,” said Whiteoak. The recordings of their performances will be forwarded to the Executive Director for consideration by a listening panel who will choose up to fourteen ensembles for All-State Festival performance.”

The choirs are currently preparing to perform at the state solo and ensemble Friday, April 12th along with festival held on May 6th or May 7th. “As a choir, we are all working hard on our piece,” shared senior Kennedy Edick. This year there will be two pieces taken to states. “It’s a lot of just fine-tuning songs that we’ve been working on pretty much the whole year,” said junior Grace Birko.

“We can expect that whether or not we get a high score or get a perfect score we’re going to put our all in and we’re going to do our very best,” said sophomore Josh Cavalli. Once states have finished, the choirs will find out by April 26th if any were selected for All-State. If a choir is chosen they will perform May 9th, 2024 at Fairchild Theater at Michigan State University.