USAO Students Chosen for Seven-State Honor Choir

CHICKASHA – Four student singers will represent Oklahoma’s public liberal arts college in February when the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association’s Collegiate Honor Choir performs in Kansas City. Elizabeth Sellers, Tana Ferguson, Scott Pitts and Matthew Pitts, music students at the University of Science and Arts, recently were selected to sing in the prestigious seven-state choir.

The Collegiate Honor Choir, comprised of college students from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas, will perform a concert Feb. 22, 2008, at 9 p.m. in the historic Folly Theatre in downtown Kansas City.

Dr. Jan Hanson, professor of music, will prepare the students for the winter concert.

Elizabeth Sellers, a vocal performance junior from Tulsa, is a member of the USAO Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Concert Choir. Most recently, the soprano was a featured soloist in USAO’s six-night Bach Festival, during which she performed Bach’s “Coffee Cantata.” A member of last year’s Oklahoma All-State Choir, Sellers recently joined the cast of “Studio 18,” an award-winning comedy show on USAO’s cable channel 18.

A graduate of Hinton High School, Tana Ferguson is a vocal music education freshman. Ferguson was named to the 2007 Oklahoma All-State Women’s Chorus and performed with the elite choir in Oklahoma City. She is a three-year member of the Western Oklahoma Honor Chorus and currently performs with the Concert Choir and the USAO Vocal Jazz Ensemble, where she sings alto.

Scott Pitts is a vocal music education junior from Comanche. A member of the Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Concert Choir, he also plays trombone in the USAO Droverspirit Concert Band. In October, Pitts was featured as a vocal soloist in the Bach Festival, performing several tenor arias. Last year, Pitts was named to the Oklahoma All-State Choir and won at both district and state vocal solo and ensemble contests.

Another graduate of Comanche High School, baritone Matthew Pitts is a vocal music education freshman. An accomplished saxophonist, currently he performs with the USAO Concert Band and sings in the Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Concert Choir. Pitts was named to the Oklahoma All-State Choir during both his junior and senior high school years and was a four-year member of the Southcentral Honor Band. During his senior year, Pitts served as the drum major at Comanche High School and received the John Phillip Sousa Band Award.

The guest conductor for the SWACDA Collegiate Honor Choir concert in February is Dr. Eph Ehly, Professor Emeritus at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

“Dr. Ehly is one of the most sought-after choral conductors and clinicians in the world,” Hanson said. “He guest-conducts at Carnegie Hall in New York City several times each year and has conducted more than 80 all-state choirs and more than 500 festival ensembles.”