By Zoe Howard
Features Editor
Junior Kieran Malik pursues her number-one passion of singing in the American Choir Directors’ Association (ACDA) Western Division High School Honor Choir in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she will perform for the fourth time in the past five years.
The program accepts approximately 200 10-12th graders from California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Hawaii. Malik will be taught by world-class conductors and will share the stage with other talented singers from these states.
“My favorite part of this program is the music itself,” Malik said. “When so many passionate, dedicated individuals come together to do what they love for three days, the result is the most beautiful music. I can’t wait to hear it.”
Malik first joined choir in fifth grade and continued her career throughout her three years at Manhattan Beach Middle School and now at Mira Costa.
“I’ve been singing to songs on the radio and performing in musical theatre all my life, but when I began to sing choir, I felt as if I had discovered a whole new way of singing,” Malik said. “[Choir] was all the more valuable because it involves sharing the experience with others.”
Malik discovered Honor Choir through Heather Gold-Pollak, the director of choirs at MBMS. When she was in seventh grade, Gold-Pollak helped prepare her as well as five other students audition for the Junior High Honors Choir. Ever since then, Malik has been auditioning each year to get into the program and attended in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade.
“I’m so grateful to [Mrs. Gold-Pollak] for introducing me to this amazing program,” Malik said. ““[Singing for me can] either provide a blissful escape from your life, or a way to express life’s experiences in a really powerful way. There’s always something to improve upon or something new to learn.”
The Costa director of choirs, Michael Hayden, and Music Theory instructor and Choral accompanist, Mark McCormick, teach the choir classes. Malik’s favorite part of singing in the Costa choir is that Hayden and McCormick never treat them like high school choirs. Instead, they are
taught and expected to perform at the collegiate level, Malik said.
“[Choir] has allowed us to grow so much and make such beautiful music,” Malik said. “Also, this department has the most amazing people, and singing in one of our choirs really is like having a second family.”
All of the singers selected for the Honor Choir will meet in March to rehearse for nine hours a day for two days and then perform in a concert with the Junior High Honor Choir and Youth Treble Honor choirs on the final day. The choirs are each directed by a different conductor, each of whom is incredibly renowned in his or her field. Dr. Steven Zielke, the conductor director of Choral Studies at Oregon State University, is the director of the Honor High School Choir.
“I’m definitely excited to work with the conductor of the choir; each one I’ve worked with so far has been so talented and unique in their approach of choral music,” Malik said.
As a member of the ACDA, Hayden sponsored Malik by submitting her video audition where she was accepted the following month.
“The notification [of being accepted] was actually the first thing I saw on my phone when I woke up that morning, and I remember smiling and thinking that it was the best way to start the day,” Malik said. “I was so excited that I was going to get to be a part of this amazing program at the high school level for the first time.”
Prior to meeting in Utah on March 4, Malik will receive approximately six pieces of songs to learn that she will perform during the concert.
“I usually try to start learning the music two months before the program because this is an extremely professional choral environment, and putting in the necessary personal work is essential,” Malik said.
Malik wants to pursue music in the future, whether it is a career or hobby. She plans to continue singing in choir in college.
“I’ve been so incredibly lucky to have a choir department like the one here at Costa, and after experiencing it, I can’t imagine my life without choral music,” Malik said. “There’s just something so magical about it.”
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