MVNU to host Central Ohio Honors Choirs

MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon Nazarene University will host the 2021 District 10 Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Honors Choir Festival on Saturday, Nov. 6.  

The event will feature young vocalists from Ashland, Coshocton, Delaware, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morrow and Richland counties from 15 participating schools. The event features high school and middle school honor choirs. To be eligible, students must be nominated by their director.  

The day will feature a morning of instruction and will culminate with a final concert at 3:30 p.m. in the R.R. Hodges Chapel Auditorium on the MVNU campus. The concert is free and open to the public. Due to campus guidelines, masks will be required. 

Dr. Gayle Walker will direct the High School Honors Choir. She is in her 21st year as director of choral activities and professor of music at Otterbein University in Westerville. She is responsible for the organization all vocal ensembles, conducts Concert Choir and Opus One a cappella/jazz ensemble, and teaches classes in conducting, aural skills, and music history. Her choirs have performed in major venues throughout Europe and China, as well as with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and at various conferences. Walker has served as president of both the Central Division of the American Choral Directors Association and the Ohio Choral Directors Association. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award of OCDA, as well as Otterbein University’s Exemplary Teaching Award.  

Ann Schertzer will direct the Middle School Honors Choir. She is currently the music specialist/vocal teacher at McKinley Elementary School and is the former choral director at Grant Middle School in Marion City Schools. Schertzer has helped to foster active involvement in music at the middle school level, and her choirs have consistently received Superior ratings at the Ohio Music Education Association State Adjudicated Event. She has also presented on topics related to middle school choral teaching as a clinician at the Ohio Music Education Association State Conferences. While at GMS, she led a thriving musical theatre program where she directed and produced middle school theatrical productions. She is currently involved as a vocalist with the Marion Palace Theatre Big Band and works also as a freelance vocal artist. She also recently became the co-director of the Champaign County Children’s Youth Chorus.  

To learn more about MVNU’s music programs, as well as other majors, visit mvnu.edu.