HIGH POINT, N.C., April 6, 2015 – For the first time ever, 98 high school choral students will come together at HPU for the High School Choral Festival. The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. on April 20 in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center. It is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.
Directed by Dr. Dan Forrest, world-renowned composer, high school choral students from Penn-Griffin School for the Arts in High Point and Glenn High School in Kernersville will perform both individual and combined pieces.
“We are very pleased that Dr. Dan Forrest, one of the world’s leading choral composers of our day, will be in residence at HPU for the week of April 19,” says Dr. Marc Foster, chair of the Department of Music. “He will be working hard with the high school students to present an inspirational concert of his compositions.”
Forrest will begin the concert by discussing his career as a professional musician and full-time composer, and the ways his formative years in high school helped to shape his decision to pursue his passion of music. Then, there will be a short question-and-answer period, followed by the concert, where Forrest will provide piano accompaniment for the students.
Forrest holds a doctoral degree in composition from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in piano performance. His choral works have received numerous awards and distinctions, including the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Award, the ACDA Raymond Brock Award, a Meet the Composer grant, the ALCM Raabe Prize and many others. His academic background includes several years as a professor and department head (music theory and composition) in higher education.