‘Real Men Sing’ festival to be held Sept. 14-15

~ By Taylor Blaire Mosher, student writer for the College of Arts and Humanities

From Sept. 14-15, approximately 700 young men from across the Valley will come together in the Fresno State Concert Hall to perform in the 16th annual “Real Men Sing Choral Festival,” hosted by the Fresno State Department of Music.

Young men from middle school and high school choral programs across Central California are invited each year to perform in the two-day festival. In the coming weeks, hundreds of students from approximately 20 schools across the Valley will join together to sing as one choir.

All choirs in attendance receive copies of the selected music weeks in advance to prepare for the event. This year, the middle school men will prepare and perform “Invictus” arranged by Andre Thomas and the high school men will perform “Shout for Joy!” (Psalm 91) by Dan Davison and “Solstice” (movements 1 and 4) by Tim Sarsany.

When the young singers arrive on campus, they first attend a welcome and introduction to the clinician. This year’s festival clinician will be Dr. Robert J. Ward, director of choral activities at The Ohio State University. Following the morning welcome, the young men are separated by musical section to rehearse their parts.

Later in the morning, they come together in the concert hall to rehearse as a full choir before the doors open for a final performance at noon, featuring the men of Fresno State Concert Choir, followed by the pieces the young singers spent the day preparing.

Both of the final festival performances will be held in the Fresno State Concert Hall and are open to the public. The middle school singers will perform at noon Thursday, Sept. 14, and the high school singers will perform at noon on Friday, Sept. 15.