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Statesboro Youth Chorale returns May 26th

The mission of the Statesboro Youth Chorale is to provide quality music education.
Statesboro-Youth-Chorale


Dr. Michael Braz and Dr. Tamara Harper are bringing back the popular STATESBORO YOUTH CHORALE. Dr. Braz and Dr. Harper are volunteering their time and talent to restart this program after a two year COVID related pause.

They will begin on May 26, will be rehearsing Thursdays through the summer at Pittman Park United Methodist Church, offering a Preparatory Choir for beginners ages 6-7/8 and a Concert Choir for more experienced singers between 8 and 14/15.

The mission of the Statesboro Youth Chorale is to provide quality music education and music performance education with the goal of attaining the highest level of artistic excellence in choral music.

It is their goal that any child who wants to sing in Statesboro is afforded that opportunity.  Though Dr. Braz and Dr. Harper are volunteering their time, they still have fees for music, uniforms, storage, etc. 

Tuition for each child is $120 for the summer.

They would love to be able to offer scholarships to those children who might not be able to afford the tuition.   

If you would like to sponsor a child, please contact Dr. Tamara Watson Harper at TamaraWatsonHarper@gmail.com or 404-918-5996

You can make checks payable to:  Statesboro Youth Chorale.  They are a registered Not for Profit. 

Children's choir division

  • Preparatory Choir—Ages 6-7/8
  • Thursdays: 4:00-5:00 p.m.
  • Dr. Michael Braz and Dr. Tamara Watson Harper, Directors
  • Tuition $120 summer fee (Scholarships available)

Concert choir

  • Concert Choir—Ages 8-14/15
  • Thursdays: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
  • Dr. Michael Braz and Dr. Tamara Watson Harper, Directors
  • Tuition $120 summer fee (Scholarships available)

You can register at the beginning of the first practice on Thursday, May 26.  There will be a one page registration paper to complete, a photo waiver and they will accept cash or check for their registration fee at that time.  The checks should be made out to: Statesboro Youth Chorale.

The Preparatory Choir is a non-auditioned experience for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-grade students. (Some 3rd graders may be placed in the Concert Choir and some 4th graders may be chosen to participate in this choir. The directors will place the singers in the choir most appropriate for them to learn and be successful.) Each lesson combines the learning of musical skills through group singing and games that bring together educational experiences in meaningful ways. These students meet once a week.

The Concert Choir is the advanced children’s choir of SYC. Singers in this division are usually enrolled in grades 4 through 8. (This is a treble choir and there may be high school students as well.) These students meet once a week.

Dr. Michael Braz

Dr. Michael Braz, Director of the Statesboro Youth Chorale Preparatory and Concert Choirs, is a nationally and internationally known music educator, composer, and clinician. For more than 50 years, his pianistic and teaching skills have made music accessible to a variety of children and adults on three continents.

As Professor Emeritus of Music at Georgia Southern University and a 24-year faculty member, Braz has taught coursework in music education, theory, composition/arranging, and orchestration, in addition to classes on subjects such as Finale music software, recreational music, and Wagner’s Ring Cycle. He has been a book and music reviewer for various journals and publishers, and is in demand as a collaborative pianist, clinician, lecturer, and adjudicator.

In the past, Braz has served as president of the Statesboro Arts Council and received Georgia Southern’s President’s Medal, the Award for Excellence in Service, the Ruffin Cup faculty award (College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences), and the Statesboro Herald’s Humanitarian of the Year honor. In fall 2009, he received recognition by the David H. Averitt Center as its third — and first living — Legend in the Arts. His hobbies are comparative religions and trekking in the Nepal Himalaya.

Dr. Tamara Watson Harper

Dr. Tamara Watson Harper, Director of the Statesboro Youth Chorale Preparatory and Concert Choirs, has held faculty positions at Georgia Southern University, Reinhardt University, Georgia Perimeter College, and Angelo State University. A lyric soprano, she has performed the title roles in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Massenet's Cendrillon, and Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Pamina in The Magic Flute by Mozart, Anna I in The Seven Deadly Sins by Kurt Weill, Gretel in Hansel und Gretel and Elle in La voix humaine.

Dr. Harper’s concert appearances include solo engagements with the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra, Southern Georgia Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, and the Panama City Orchestra. Among her recent directing credits are Peach State Opera’s Madame Butterfly, The Elixir of Love, and Carmen and Friends; assistant director for Atlanta Opera’s La bohème; and, in her cinematic debut, she staged the opera vignettes seen in Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls.

Dr. Harper’s extensive collegiate directing credits include productions of The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, L’Elisir d’Amore, The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, A Little Night Music, and The Desert Song. She has served, in addition, as musical director/conductor for productions of Cabaret and The Fantasticks, and as choreographer for numerous others. In these three capacities, Dr. Harper has served on the artistic staff for numerous civic theatre and summer stock productions. She has had over 12 years of ballet, jazz tap and toe beginning at the age of 3 in Indiana.

Spring Concert

  • Season-Ending Concert
  • Thursday, July 21, 2022
  • 6:00 p.m.