Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) will host the 2025 District 10 Ohio Music Education Association Honors Choir Festival on November 1. The event, held on MVNU's campus in Mount Vernon, will bring together student vocalists from Ashland, Coshocton, Delaware, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morrow and Richland Counties. Thirty-three schools are participating in the festival.
High school and middle school honor choirs will be featured at the event. Students were nominated by their choir directors to participate. The day includes a morning of instruction and ends with a concert at 3:30 p.m. in the R.R. Hodges Chapel/Auditorium on campus. Admission to the concert is free and open to all.
Amy Johnston Blosser will lead the high school choir. She is currently in her 23rd year as Choral Director at Bexley High School where she conducts four choirs for grades eight through twelve and serves as Fine Arts Department Chair. According to the release: "Under Blosser’s direction, the Bexley High School Vocal Ensemble has performed on several state conferences, and her choirs have toured throughout the United States, Canada and Europe."
She has received recognition including being named Bexley Schools’ 2011 Educator of the Year and was chosen as a conducting fellow for the 2015 International Conductors Exchange Program. In addition to her work at Bexley High School, she serves as Artistic Director of the Bexley Choral Society and Associate Director of Music at First Community Church. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from The Ohio State University.
Dr. Barbara Lamont will direct the middle school choir. Dr. Lamont is director of choral activities at Southeast Missouri State University where she leads all choral ensembles, teaches choral music education and conducting classes, and works as a collaborative pianist.
The press release states: "She has served as an adjudicator, clinician, and honor choir conductor across multiple states, and has been a resource chair and pianist for the Missouri Choral Directors Association." Dr. Lamont is also a certified yoga instructor who incorporates movement into choral singing.
Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Music in vocal music education from Capital University (summa cum laude), a Master of Music in choral conducting from Michigan State University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from Texas Tech University.
Further information about MVNU's music department can be found on their website: https://www.mvnu.edu/music
