Fifty vocal music students from San Marcos High School competed in the WorldStrides Festival of Gold April 14-18 in Chicago.

The invitation-only festival featured some of the finest choral and instrumental ensembles from schools all over the nation.

San Marcos had two ensembles participating in the event, Madrigals and Enchanté. Both groups scored within the 90th percentile. Madrigals was the top-scoring ensemble at the event, with an average score of 97.3.  

“I feel so fortunate to be singing with such talented people and under the direction of an outstanding director. This experience has impacted my life tremendously, and I am so grateful for the support our program has,” said Marilee Larned, the team’s Communications Officer.

Both ensembles prepared sets of 3 pieces of music for the competition from various time periods, genres, and cultures. The selections range from 16th c. Latin Polyphony, to 19th c. French Romanticism, to a brand new release from 2022. 

“Preparing for this experience has been a tremendous amount of work yet very exciting. Our hard work has paid off tremendously,” said Robby Pallad, Bass.

While in Chicago, the students workshopped these pieces with legendary choral conductors Dr. Anton Armstrong (St. Olaf College) and Dr. Lynne Gackle (Baylor University) before performing on stage the next day. 

“Both Madrigals and Enchanté have had amazing professors come in to workshop our songs with us, and it’s been such a great learning experience,” said Hannah Henderson, an alto.

“Along with competing, we were very excited to explore a new city and try a classic deep-dish pizza,” she said.

The event culminated with the students performing four additional pieces of music with the rest of the participating ensembles in a 200-person honor choir.

“I am incredibly proud of our students and what they have achieved through their hard work leading up to this event,” said Eleni Pantages, San Marcos High School Vocal Music director.

“Despite being surrounded by a culture of instant gratification through social media and technology, these students spent months painstakingly honing their craft by constructively critiquing each other and building muscle memory of healthy singing,” she said.

“No one is ever on the bench in a music ensemble. The success of the group is entirely dependent upon the dedication of each individual student, and these students have demonstrated what true teamwork can achieve,” she said.