All-State Honors Choir

  • All-State Choir members are singers in good standing in a Regional Honors Choir and in a State              Honors Choir. 
  • Those who are interested in consideration for All-State Honors Choir should indicate this when completing their Regional/State Audition Application Form. 
  • The maximum size of the choir will be 80 members. Selections will be based on quotas similar to the State Honors Choirs allowing for flexibility to ensure a balanced choir.
  • Directors will be notified by February 6 regarding All-State Choir selection.
  • Music must be prepared and memorized by the first rehearsal.
  • Students will be tested individually on memorization in the first hour of rehearsal. If students are unable to demonstrate an adequate level of preparedness, they may not be allowed to stay for the remainder of the rehearsals or performance.
  • Choir members may warm-up and perform with their school’s ensemble or as a soloist in a Solo and Ensemble Recital.
  • Students are not allowed to leave campus during All-State Honors Choir activities and will stay in Michigan State University dormitory housing overnight.

 

All music will be provided to the students and mailed to their directors in March 2024.




High School All-State Honors Choir Director

Dr. Marques L.A. Garrett

Associate Professor of Choral Studies

University of North Texas



A Virginia native, Marques L. A. Garrett (he/him) is Associate Professor of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas. His responsibilities include conducting the University Singers and teaching graduate and undergraduate choral conducting. His previous appointments were at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Cheyney University. Additionally, he holds a PhD in Music Education (Choral Conducting) from Florida State University, an MM from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a BA from Hampton University.

An active conductor, Dr. Garrett is the founding conductor of the Nebraska Festival Singers and previously served as artistic director of the Omaha Symphonic Chorus. He serves as a guest conductor or clinician with school, church, and community choirs throughout the country in addition to festival and honor choirs in Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. His most recent engagements were with the NAfME All-Northwest and Connecticut All-State Mixed Choirs. Aside from his conducting classes at UNT, he leads conducting workshops at other universities and conferences. His formal conducting studies were with Dr. André J. Thomas, Dr. Carole J. Ott, Dr. Carl G. Harris, Jr., and Mr. Royzell Dillard.

A versatile voice that performs both as a baritone and countertenor, Dr. Garrett has sung with several community, church, and university groups as both a chorister and soloist. He was the baritone soloist for the Germantown Concert Chorus’s performance of Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis. His premiere as a countertenor in Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo served as the work’s European premiere in Limerick, Ireland. Additionally, he performed the role of Lil Lud in Bernstein’s White House Cantata with the Tallahassee Community Chorus. Currently, he sings with the Festival Singers of Florida and Jason Max Ferdinand Singers.

Dr. Garrett is an avid composer of choral and solo-vocal music whose compositions have been performed to acclaim by high school all-state, collegiate, and professional choirs including Seraphic Fire, the Oakwood University Aeolians, and the National Lutheran Choir. His music is available through more than ten publishers. He has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Youth Choir, Concordia Choir, Harvard University, Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, and Westminster Choir College. Among his latest commissions is his largest work to date, Dreamland: Tulsa 1921. This collaborative work with librettist Sandra Seaton for tenor-bass chorus, soloists, and chamber orchestra was commissioned by the Turtle Creek Chorale to tell the story of the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

As a researcher, his most advantageous topic is the non-idiomatic choral music of Black composers. His lectures at state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and at other local and national venues afford him the opportunity to showcase this underrepresented area of music resulting in the anthology The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers released in February 2023. His peer-reviewed presentations and headlining events for conferences and organizations have been in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Canada. He serves as co-editor of the “Out from the Shadows” Series with Gentry Publications.

Dr. Garrett holds membership in the American Choral Directors Association; American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers; National Association of Negro Musicians; National Collegiate Choral Organization; and Pi Kappa Lambda. For more information, visit www.mlagmusic.com.

Emily Verdonk

Director of Honors Choirs
emilyverdonk@msvma.org


Anna Bolton
All-State Honors Choir Supervisor
annabolton@msvma.org


Matt Greenberg
All-State 
Coordinator

matthew.greenberg@fpsk12.net

2023 - 2024 Schedule

February 6     All-State selection announced

May 9-11        All-State Honors Choir 


Rehearsals

Thursday, May 9 - Saturday, May 11

MSU College of Music, East Lansing, MI


Performance

Saturday, May 11 at 3 PM

Fairchild Theater, East Lansing, MI


Important Documents

All-State Honors Choir rehearsal tracks

Apparel Order Information

All-State Choir Repertoire list



All-State music provided by: 

                                                                                                  

Michigan School Vocal Music Association

P.O. Box 1131

Big Rapids, MI 49307-1131

(231) 592 - 9344

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