NEW YORK — Charlotte Catholic High School’s Honors Choirs recently completed their 2018 Performance Tour of New York City.
From March 2 to 5, more than 70 students offered sacred music for Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue. They performed with hundreds of other students in the National Youth Choir at Carnegie Hall.
Led by Dr. Robert Ridgell, the Choirs of Charlotte Catholic sing monthly all-school Masses at Charlotte Catholic and have recently begun a new initiative of singing throughout the Diocese of Charlotte.
“For our students at Charlotte Catholic, music is a ministry. Most especially, during this season of Lent – music is often that spiritual lens through which we can connect with God. We give glory to God through our voices and we hope to help others in prayer” said Ridgell.
This semester, students sang at Holy Trinity Middle School and will perform at St. Gabriel and St. Matthew churches.
“We look forward to visiting other parishes in the future as we bridge the rich choral tradition of choral music” said Ridgell.
Dr. Ridgell has worked with students around the country – most recently for the Archdiocese of Houston where he conducted over 200 Catholic School youth at a special Mass on Feb. 24.
In April, Dr. Ridgell will conduct the National Catholic Honors Choir in New York City.
— Photo provided by Charlotte Catholic
CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Catholic High School announces that its Theatre Department competed successfully at the N.C. Theatre Conference High School Play Festival.
The theatre students, led by Marcus Riter, made the school and community proud with their presentations of “Curst Be He Who Moves My Bones” by Thomas Hischak, and “No Gray Area,” written by Riter.
Professional actors and directors watched each show, gave thoughtful feedback to the students, and selected the award winners.
The following awards were presented to the CCHS theatre students:
- “Curst Be He That Moves My Bones,” Rating: Superior, Festival Spirit Award
- Barbizon Excellence in Design and Production – Stage Management: Caroline Craig and Gabbie Overcash for “Curst Be He That Moves My B
ones” and “No Gray Area”
- Excellence in Acting: Katie Dozzi for “No Gray Area”
- Excellence in Ensemble Acting: “Curst Be He That Moves My Bones”
- Theatre Arts Award – Excellence in Design Concept: “No Gray Area”
- Theatre Arts Award – Excellence in Creation of Physical Environment: “Curst Be He That Moves My Bones”
For more than 30 years, the NCTC High School Play Festival has strengthened arts education in schools by bringing curriculum to life, challenging students to do their best work, and contributing to the development of future audiences for live performing arts. The program is the largest high school theatre event in the Southeast, and has been replicated in nine other states. This year, 3,000 students from 93 schools performed 126 plays at the festival.
The CCHS Fine Arts Department is a growing, vibrant group in which students have the opportunity to experiment in many different disciplines including Band, Choral Music, Dance, Photography, Visual Art and Theatre.
— Carolyn Kramer Tillman