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Mississippi College Students Prepare for Carnegie Hall Concert


Mississippi College Singers are thrilled about making the journey to perform at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on January 19.

“I’ve never been to New York for one thing and have never seen a Broadway show,” said MC junior Christa Morgan of Madison. “Singing in Carnegie Hall with other groups will be a really cool experience.”

A 21-year-old music education major, Morgan is one of 55 MC Singers stepping up their rehearsals for three days with other area choral groups beginning Sunday evening.

After the MC students catch a January 15 flight from Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport, they will continue to rehearse in NYC before the 2 p.m. Sunday concert. They will also find time for other cultural attractions in the Big Apple. Christa is buying tickets to see Broadway shows like “Phantom of the Opera.”

The daughter of Mississippi college business professor Mark Morgan and Rebecca Morgan, a nurse at St. Dominic Hospital, Christa is multi-talented. The Madison Central High graduate plays flute in the Christian university’s Symphonic Winds Orchestra.

The MC Singers will perform at Carnegie Hall’s Perelman Stage that winter afternoon with choirs from eight other Mississippi schools. Joining them will be choral groups from Clinton High, Jackson Prep, Meridian High, Germantown High, Power APAC, Newton County High, the Mississippi School for the Arts in Brookhaven and Northwest Mississippi Community College. They will blend their voices to sing the New York premiere of Dan Forrest’s “Requiem for the Living.”

“It’s a big honor to sing in Carnegie Hall,” said MC Singer JoAnna Pope, 19, of Terry. Making her first trip to New York City, the Terry High graduate will also see “The Lion King” on Broadway, visit the Metropolitan Opera House, stop at Ground Zero and tour the Statue of Liberty. Shopping is on her big-city travel agenda, too.

Pope is among 25 to 30 members of the MC Singers booked for several concerts in South Africa in May. JoAnna worked three jobs last year to raise $4,000 to pay for the May 11-24 South Africa trip.

Another trip in the new year will take the MC Singers to Jacksonville, Florida to entertain at the Southern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors March 6-8.

Led by director Jamie Meaders, the MC Singers clocked lots of practice time to get ready for their string of concerts taking them far from the Clinton campus.

But the lengthy rehearsals and bonds built with classmates are hours well spent. “The MC Singers is based on a family tradition,” JoAnna Pope says. “It is something I enjoy being part of.”

Making her return to New York City, Mississippi College junior Leah Oswalt, 20, of Clinton performed with the MC Singers at the city’s famed Lincoln Center when she was a freshman a couple of years ago. Singing on such a renowned stage in New York City, the talented alto said, “ is definitely incredible.”

A music major, Oswalt is the daughter of Mississippi College music professor Lewis Oswalt and Lisa Oswalt, a speech therapist at Clinton Park Elementary School.

A 2011 Clinton High graduate, Leah expects to stay busy while she’s away from the Magnolia State. She’s getting tickets to see shows like “Newsies” and will visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The MC Singers are frequent travelers to the skyscrapers of Manhattan. It marks the group’s fourth time since 2006 to perform at Carnegie Hall.