With a roster of more than 200 young singers, Clayton Parr, director of choral activities at DePaul University’s School of Music, has organized a Choral Festival Feb. 19 that is the first-of-its-kind for the university. This vocal extravaganza will feature DePaul’s own University Singers and Concert Choir, as well as the teen-age choristers from Glenbard East High School in Lombard and the Midwest Young Artists Senior Chorale of Highwood. Christopher Bell, chorus master of Chicago’s Grant Park Festival and director of the Scottish National Youth Choir, will conduct these singers in lifting their collective voice in song to perform two movements from Rachmaninov’s masterful “All Night Vigil.”

Concert time is 8 p.m. in the DePaul Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden Ave. The event is free and open to the public, as the university endeavors to engage the neighboring Lincoln Park community and beyond with its diverse musical programs.

Parr, the driving force behind this project, emphasizes the importance of this concert for students interested in pursuing careers in the vocal arts. “This Choral Festival enables students, through rehearsal and performance, to participate in a professional choral experience unlike the other elements in their ongoing training,” he said. “It allows them to bridge the divide firsthand between student and professional performance, and to begin to understand the commitment required of a professional life in these performing arts.”

Competition is stiff for admission to DePaul’s University Singers. Created in 2000 by Parr, this ensemble consists of approximately 40 members, most of whom are voice majors. Alumni of this choral group have gone on to join the prestigious choruses of the Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Grant Park Orchestra, and to perform on opera stages in major music centers throughout the country. For this Feb. 19 concert, the University Singers will perform works of a decidedly British flavor—Handel, Purcell, Taverner—under the baton of the Belfast-born Christopher Bell.

The DePaul Concert Choir, a slightly larger group of singers, comprises mostly incoming students from all college disciplines who have an interest in performing and the ability to sing. Both of these groups regularly are led by music school faculty members Parr and Lisa Kristina in performances on and off campus throughout the school year.

Bell has held numerous musical posts with orchestras and choruses throughout the British Isles and Australia, and he has been accorded several honors in recent years, particularly for his work to encourage talented young singers. He received the 2001 Scotsman of the Year Award for Creative Talent and the Charles Grove Prize for his contribution to the cultural life of Scotland and the United Kingdom in 2002.

The two guest high school choirs on this program each number approximately 50 students; both are considered exceptionally gifted ensembles. The Glenbard East Choir is directed by Ross Heise; the Midwest Young Artists Senior Chorale is conducted by Bruce Hall. These groups will perform individually during the first half of this concert, with the program to be announced.

For more information about the Choral Festival, call the DePaul School of Music: (773) 325-7260.