Seventy-one children in grades 3-8 from six parishes will gather on March 2 for the 2024 Diocesan Children’s Choir Festival.
Michael Bower, director of music at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York will be the guest conductor.
Members of the children’s choirs from St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Mentor, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception and Holy Trinity parishes in Avon, St. Hilary Parish in Fairlawn, St. Joseph Parish in Avon Lake, St. Francis Xavier Parish in Medina and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Lorain will participate in this year’s festival.
Rehearsals begin at 10 a.m. at St. Peter Church in Cleveland. The children will spend the day rehearsing with Bower and their choir directors before heading to the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist for a final rehearsal before they sing at the 4:30 p.m. vigil Mass. They will perform a prelude at 4:15 p.m.
Bishop Edward Malesic will celebrate the Mass, which is open to all.
Bower oversees the entire music department at St. Agnes Cathedral, which includes 10 choirs. The cathedral, located on the edge of New York City, has about 5,000 families.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in sacred music and organ performance from Westminster Choir College, Princeton. He also was a student of the late Helen Kemp, the country’s most renowned children’s choir specialist, and her protégé, the late Sue Ellen Page. Bower also pursued additional study in boys choir training with James Litton, director of the American Boys Choir, Princeton.
He was appointed associate director of music at St. Agnes Cathedral in 1985.
Bower previously conducted children’s choir festivals on Long Island, in Santa Monica, California and Houston, Texas.
The Diocesan Children’s Choir Festival is organized by the Cleveland Chapter of the National Pastoral Musicians