LBCC Choir Wins in the Aloha State

LBCC Choir in Hawaii. Photo provided by James Reddan

The LBCC choir has been on a mission in the South Pacific. During spring break, they went to the Hawaiian National Heritage in Honolulu on March 23. Overall, 59 students participated in the programs. Choir director and conductor James Reddan posted his thoughts regarding these events on the choir’s Facebook page.

“Congratulations to the LBCC choirs at the Hawaiian National Heritage Festival,” he wrote. “[One gold and two silvers], invitation to the festival of gold, outstanding choral ensemble trophy, choral sweepstakes trophy [...] lots of wonderful things today. Feeling so humbled to be the director of such wonderful students. And congrats to Travis Bazanele on winning the Maestro award at todays festival,” Reddan continued. “You all make LBCC, Albany, and Oregon proud!”

Kim Garwood Willaman proudly displays one of the trophies won in Hawaii by our choir. Willaman also posted a picture of all three trophies with a comment.

“These are all of the trophies we pulled yesterday,” She posted. “Though the clear one in the bottom middle is one Travis personally earned: The Maestro Award. So we did [okay].”

The choir took a total of 4 trophies while in Hawaii.  

• Re-Choired Element Chamber Choir: Gold, Trophy for Outstanding Choral Group with an Invitation to the 2014 Festival of Gold
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• LBCC Concert Choir: Silver, Travis Bazanele recipient of the Maestro Award for his performance as percussionist and singer
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• LBCC Mixed Vocal A cappella: Silver trophy
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• Entire LBCC Choral Program: Choral Sweepstakes Trophy for Outstanding Choral Program

On this trip the choir members were able to do some sightseeing:

• Tour and performances of the Polynesian Cultural Center on the Island of Oahu.
• Tour of Pearl Harbor and Visit to the USS Arizona Memorial
• Hike of Diamond Head Crater

The choir was able to do a tribute performance at the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, which is the site of the Japanese Surrender at the end of WWII.

In the past year, the choir visited Washington D.C., London for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and Honolulu.

They also competed at the International Championship of Collegiate a cappella.

The chamber choir has been named semifinalists for the American Prize in Choral Performance for the past two years, and this year, both the chamber and concert choirs have been named semifinalists.

Next year, the chamber and concert choirs will compete in the ninth World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia with additional performances in Helsinki, Finland, and Tallinn, Estonia.