A Community of Peers Singing and Learning Together

By Members of the May Festival Youth Chorus

The May Festival Youth Chorus, with conductor Matthew Swanson and accompanist David Kirkendall. Credit: JP Leong

For us, the May Festival Youth Chorus (MFYC) is a unique experience, much different from our school choirs. The Chorus brings together students in grades 8 through 12 from around the Greater Cincinnati area, and we build a community around singing together. We get experiences unlike any other: we receive extensive music education and unique performance opportunities, get to work alongside the best educators and industry professionals, and find community with other singers our age.

One of the best parts of singing with the May Festival Youth Chorus is performing alongside the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus at Music Hall. How many students get to say they’ve sung with one of America’s best orchestras? When the Orchestra and Chorus come together, the sound is just incredible! We especially loved performing during Holiday Pops this year for thousands of people in the hall and online. Before every Holiday Pops concert, we met different performers from the show and from inside the Orchestra. Vocalists Capathia Jenkins and Rafael Moras talked to us about their lives on the road and how they became professional singers. Even Concertmaster Stefani Matsuo came backstage to talk to us about her career and her role within the Orchestra. It’s truly special to share the stage with such accomplished professionals, and it’s even cooler when they talk to us about their careers and offer advice.

Working with dedicated artistic staff like Dr. Matthew Swanson, Dr. Eva Floyd and Mr. David Kirkendall is really the highlight of the program. Their guidance extends beyond the Chorus. They are fully committed to our musical development and our personal growth. Dr. Floyd works with us on our musicianship and teaches us about music theory, solfège and sight-singing. These lessons not only help us to perfect our choral repertoire but prepare us for our other musical pursuits, too. Dr. Swanson takes the time to understand our unique needs as singers, and he believes in our individual potential. He has created a supportive environment where we all feel valued and encouraged to grow, while still treating us like professionals. We are also able to enroll in private voice lessons with professional voice teachers like Dr. Ellen Graham. These lessons provide individual attention and feedback, as well as provide the opportunity to learn and perform solo repertoire.

It’s also exciting to challenge ourselves by learning difficult repertoire. We sing pieces from many different genres and time periods, from Handel and Haydn to Duke Ellington and Mariah Carey. Some of us have even dedicated extra rehearsal time to sing Dona Nobis Pacem with the May Festival Chorus during this year’s May Festival. Singing with the adult Chorus is so much fun! Maybe one day we’ll be performing with them as members of the May Festival Chorus!

Very few choruses offer this sort of training, and even fewer make it so accessible for their students. To make music accessible for all, the May Festival Youth Chorus is entirely cost-free, from our uniforms to our parking. This makes it easier for students of all backgrounds to be brought together by a shared love of singing.

Oct 2013 MFYC at Cincinnati Women's Club — The May Festival Youth Chorus performs at Cincinnati Woman’s Club, October 2023.

For those of us who may go on to pursue a career in music performance, these experiences are invaluable. Many colleges look for students with musicianship skills, working knowledge of music theory and a strong stage presence. Being a part of the May Festival Youth Chorus hones these skills and will set us apart from our peers during the college audition process. Whether or not we go on to study music in the future, we know that the lessons we’ve learned and the skills we’ve developed will serve us well in our academic and personal endeavors.

Singing with MFYC is more than just an “extracurricular” for us. It’s really special to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We get to rehearse and perform alongside our friends and meet people we otherwise wouldn’t. And, hopefully, we will carry the friendships we’ve made along the way into the future. The May Festival Youth Chorus helps us to not only be better musicians but better students and better people.