Choir school continues to grow

Intermountain Catholic

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The Madeleine Choir School choristers perform at the Founders' Day Concert, celebrating the 20 years since the decision was made to open the school.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Madeleine Choir School celebrated the 20th year of its choir program in traditional fashion with its Founder’s Day Concert March 14, then followed it a few days later with an announcement for expanding its legacy: applications for a second kindergarten class are being accepted. As that class moves through the grades, the student population will double from 230 to 460.

It’s a far cry from when the school started in 1996 in the basement of the Cathedral of the Madeleine with only grades 4 through 8. Grades 2 and 3 weren’t added until 2002, but kindergarten and 1st grade followed the very next year; the pre-kindergarten class came along in 2007.

In addition to traditional academics, the curriculum includes music theory, music history, two years of violin study and vocal training. Students are expected to participate in the St. Nicholas choir, from there they may advance to one of the two performing choirs.

The new kindergarten class is needed because the emphasis on music attracts families, even those outside the Catholic community – 30 percent of the student body are non-Catholic, said Andrea Steenburgh, the school accountant. "They want their children to be a part of an outstanding music program."

The school’s policy of admitting siblings has meant that the classes often fill quickly, another reason to add a new kindergarten class, said Joanna Wheelton, director of advancement. " We’ve gained this reputation for being hard to get in to, and we wanted to be able to still accept musically and academically qualified students."

To house the growing student population, school officials have undertaken a $6 million capital campaign to renovate the existing campus at 205 East 1st Avenue. They already have raised $2.6 million and were expecting to hear back about two grant applications by the end of this month, Wheelton said.

"The reason for a choir school is to make sure that you have the musicians coming through that can provide a robust choir for the cathedral," Wheelton said. "It’s something that occurs quite often in Europe. This was modeled after Westminster School" in Cambridge, England, which has a world-renowned choir.

The school’s 20 years are packed with success stories: the choirs have doubled in size and undertaken seven international tours and three national tours. Its students are asked to perform with the Utah Opera; in the recent production of Carmen there were 24 students from the choir school. After high school, students have gone on to study music at Julliard and Ivy League schools such as Yale. "The school is not just a musical school; we have pretty strong academics and really focus on the academic rigor," Wheelton said.