The Dade Christian School (DCS) Choir has had a year filled with many achievements. Under the guidance of Ivette Rossi, the DCS Choral students won first place at the Merrick Festival Caroling Competition in Coral Gables. The students competed against 30 public, private and parochial schools from the South Florida area and performed a variety of Christmas carols before a live audience.
On December 18, 25 of the choir students were selected to represent DCS during the Candlelight Processional and Massed Choir Program at Disney’s Epcot theme park. This 50-minute performance included a presentation of the Christmas Story through song and was narrated by celebrity guest narrator, actress and Saturday Night Live comedienne, Ana Gasteyer. The DCS students joined a group of over 250 voice choir performers from around the world.
Special congratulations to ninth grader Emily Gutierrez and eighth grader Emily Martinez who have been asked to perform as part of the All-State Choirs at the Straz Performing Arts Center in Tampa. The two students went through a rigorous audition process which included three separate auditions, two in September and one in October.
Emily Gutierrez will be singing for the All State High School Mixed Choir and Emily Martinez will be singing for the All State Middle School Women’s Choir.
DCS will be recognized during the FVA event and will receive the Music Enrollment Award granted by the Florida Music Educators Association. This award is presented to schools that have more than 10 percent of their student body enrolled in Fine Arts (Choir and Band). Rossi, in addition to DCS’s band director Leonard Shaw, and band teacher Elizabeth Elliott, will be recognized among other music educators in the State of Florida as they accept the award.
To cap off a phenomenal year, on March 21, 8th-12th-grade choral members will be heading to Carnegie Hall in New York City to perform as part of a massed choir.