On the Move with National Honor Choir
Summer brings opportunities for choir tours and family trips across the nation. YouthCUE, however, combines both by making a family of the students you sent to us from across our network for National Honor Choir! They came from 13 states and 2 nations with one purpose, to share their voices in a sound that was best described as transcendent.
We’ve just finished an amazing week in Washington, D.C. that culminated with the vocal expertise of YouthCUE alumnus and Metropolitan Opera tenor, David Portillo, in concert with YouthCUE’s National Honor Choir accompanied by professional orchestra at the National Cathedral. The night was as extraordinary as the week. It was the hottest week of the summer thus far in Washington, but all 70 students and their leaders made their way across town on foot and by Metro with a spirit second to none. All week they rehearsed, sang mini-concerts, and saw sights leading up to the grand event.
Friendships were made while experiencing the unique bond that is the love of choral music. When music minister Dianne Finley of Ft. Worth, TX was asked why she invested her time again this year in coming with her top singers to National Honor Choir, she said, “I want them to have the opportunity to be with other young people who love to sing as much as they do. Nowhere else are they given the chance to sing with peers at this level.”
Cory Roberson, a music minister and public school choir director, also came with his four students for NHC 2017. But unlike veteran Dianne, everything was new for his group. They had only become aware of YouthCUE this spring, but they understood that NHC meant business. Cory rehearsed with his students faithfully during the summer months making sure they were ready to meet the challenge.
Leading worship through musical beauty and truth at the Cathedral of St. Matthew, the Basilica of the National Shrine, the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, and the National Cathedral, in addition to laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, made for an unforgettable week for everyone. As Cory said, “This week with YouthCUE changed both my life and the lives of the four students that participated. We’ve made new friends and made music with fellow believers of Jesus Christ.”
And that’s music to our ears!
Here’s your opportunity to listen (or perhaps listen again!) to the video of the YouthCUE National Honor Choir 2017 Grand Concert.
Wyndee Holbrook
Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, YouthCUE
Wyndee’s passion for developing the gifts of young people have been present since she was one. Growing up in Louisville, KY she had her sites on an MDiv from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary before she was in high school. The opportunities she was given through her church youth choir and her university’s Baptist Student Union Choir imbedded the power of chorale music in her faith formation.
Wyndee has lived out her calling as a Baptist Campus Minister for a decade each at Cumberland College (now University of the Cumberlands), then at Berea College (both in Kentucky) and most recently as Executive Director for the Academy of Preachers. Because of her work with young preachers she was introduced to YouthCUE’s vibrant mission and knew it matched her calling. She and her husband Mitch eagerly said, “YES!” to the invitation to move to San Antonio, Texas where Wyndee now serves YouthCUE as Vice President for Strategic Initiatives.
Wyndee has been married to Mitch Holbrook (they met in their seminary Old Testament Class, “You never know what you’ll get out of the bible.”) for 32 years and they just welcomed their son Lane and his wife Heather to their new home in Texas.
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