Housing sought for high school singers

On March 21-23, at Hamburg Area High School, vocal music will be the focus. Students from 80 different high schools will come here to Hamburg to blend their voices in an intense artistic experience.

The Pennsylvania Music Educators Association sponsors various music festivals around the state, and this year Hamburg has been chosen as the site for the Region V event. Approximately 210 high school students who have been selected through exacting auditions at the county and district levels will participate in workshops and lessons designed to hone their singing skills, all culminating in two concerts showcasing the results.

Many of these students will be traveling with their choral directors from a considerable distance, and the committee preparing for the music festival is busy making arrangements for the young people to stay with local families. It is the committee’s hope that folks in Hamburg proper and in the surrounding areas will open their homes to these talented singers. This will involve supplying sleeping accommodations for two nights, breakfasts for two mornings, and arranging transportation to and from Hamburg Area High School.

The facilities need not be palatial—students may share rooms and even sleep on air mattresses. The students will spend most of their time at the high school, so entertaining them will not be a duty of the host families, who will receive two complimentary tickets to the chorus’ final concert so they can enjoy the results of the three-day festival.

Anyone interested in being a part of this musical event can contact the housing chairperson Lari Leiby at larigleiby@msn.com or at 610-562-2723. Additional information about the festival, as well as housing forms, is available through the Hamburg Area School District website (www.hasdhawks.org) via the webpage of high school vocal music director Scott Piergrossi.