SALT LAKE CITY – As students return to classes Aug. 24, The Madeleine Choir School will kick off its 25th year. The school has come a long way since its beginning in the basement of the cathedral; it now has more than 450 students and has surpassed many milestones.
The Madeleine Choir School was founded in 1996 by Greg Glenn and Monsignor M. Francis Mannion, then rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine. When the cathedral was restored in 1992, the two men kidded about how wonderful it would be if they could start a choir school, Glenn said.
“I’ve always been very intrigued by the work of the English cathedral choirs, about the cathedrals with choir schools – just how the quality of sound is so embracing so engaging,” he said.
When they mentioned their dream to a group of parents, they were surprised by a very positive response.
“They were just enthralled by the idea and immediately began to encourage us to at least do a feasibility study,” said Glenn, now the school’s pastoral administrator.
The results of the study were positive. With the diocese’s approval, the choir school started in 1996 in the cathedral’s basement with 110 students and Betsy Hunt as the first principal. In 2002, the school purchased the former Rowland-Hall school building across the street from the cathedral with funding from several donors.
During the academic year, the school’s choristers sing at Mass on Sundays and weekdays at the cathedral. The choir also performs during Christmas and Easter, as well as offering an annual concert season. At the same time, The Madeleine Choir School offers an academic program that focuses on liberal arts, science and technology.
“What for me is most important is the lives of these young people and watching what they do and become,” Glenn said. “Perhaps my greatest treasure is the service that they do in the Church but also in looking at what they’re doing with their lives and seeing alumni out there just really doing good things.”
The school’s silver anniversary is exciting, said Megan Randazzo, who started her teaching career at the school and, for the past three years, has been principal. “Just to see the growth of the school over the past few years is just immense and wonderful. Over these 25 years, the core mission – music education and dedication to the life of the cathedral – has stayed the same and just really rings true in all that we do here on campus as students engage in their daily learning.”
Over the years, the school has expanded so that it now provides two classes at each grade level from preschool through eighth grade.
Parents and friends of the school will celebrate the anniversary with a kickoff celebration event on the Quad on Thursday, Aug. 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. The evening will include live music by Joshua Payne Orchestra.
Another celebration will be the school’s Fall Festival on the Quad on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 4 to 8 p.m. The MCS Good Time Golf Tournament is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3, at 8 a.m. at River Oaks Golf Course, Sandy.
Staff, parents, alumni and the school’s benefactors will also take a trip down memory lane and recognize distinguished alumni at the MCS Anniversary Dinner Celebration, Friday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. The location for this has yet to be determined.
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