May 6, 2010 – It wasn’t the casinos that beckoned Mark Hoover and the Advanced Vocal Ensemble; it was the Reno Jazz Festival. Now in it’s 25th year, the Reno Jazz Festival is the premiere jazz festival on the West Coast showcasing over 100 instrumental jazz groups and 38 vocal groups. Though it was an easy flight from Seattle, we touched down in Reno during a full blown blizzard. Fortunately the hotel was warm and the coffee in Mel’s All American 24/7 diner was hot.
Thursday was spent rehearsing the complex vocal repertoire that the Ensemble had prepared for the festival. Friday was spent in workshops with Master teachers and listening to other vocal and instrumental groups perform.
The singers were nervous as their chance to perform for the adjudicators arrived on Saturday afternoon. As they took the stage, and Mark introduced their numbers, you could sense both tension and excitement.
They performed effortlessly with a professionalism rarely found in students of this age and afterwards the audience cheered their performance with choruses of “WOW!!!” Being on the outside watching them rehearse, perform, collaborate, and support each other, I can only echo my sentiment at spending five days with these talented young people…WOW!!!.
