Schools

Palatine Choir Makes it to Semi-Finals for National Competition

Online voting is from now until Oct. 5 to help Palatine High School Midnight Blues vocal jazz group win 2011 Sing! contest.

The Palatine High School Midnight Blues vocal jazz group is in the next-to-last leg of a national tournament that could award the group $25,000.

The ensemble winnings from the Sing! Contest, sponsored by DDR Corp. would be divided with $20,000 earmarked for the winner's charity of choice, and $5,000 in DDR Mastercard gift cards given directly to the winning group.

Separate awards for the winning soloist include $5,000 for charity and $2,500 in DDR Mastercard gift cards.

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 “Just before school let out, (last spring) I found out about the contest which was open to soloists and ensembles,” said Palatine High School Choir Director Steve Sivak. “We had to download a song we performed from a list provided by the Sing! competition and it had to be accepted.”  

The demo got the green light, and on the last day of school, Sivak said a vote was taken on the website, and the PHS Midnight Blues made the cut.  

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“I don’t know how we made it, we never advertised anything about it,” Sivak said. “I was actually in New York at the time during summer break and I learned about it when I happened to check my PHS email.”

Palatine is up against groups from 10 cities across the United States and two locations in Puerto Rico.

The 32-member, Midnight Blues group performed at Deer Park Town Center on Sept. 24, when fans, family and friends had until midnight that to vote for them.

The competition calls for 25 or less members in an ensemble, so Sivak has performers rotate in and out so everyone gets a chance to be a part of the contest.

On Tuesday, Sivak learned the group had moved forward in the competition.

The Palatine High School Midnight Blues are among five other qualifiers from the two days of Chicago area soloists and ensemble performances.

To vote for the Midnight Blues to move to the finals, supporters have from now until Oct. 5 to vote for them by logging on to the Sing! website at www.deerparktowncenter.2011sing.com

Sivak said people can vote once a day from every email account they have, and all they have to do is register on the website.

Ultimately, one soloist and one vocal group will be chosen as the national winners.

“I’m excited that we made it this far, I told the kids that they had to go out and give it their all and commit to it, and see that commitment through; then they will know it was a job well done,” Sivak said.

If Palatine is picked as the final winner, the Midnight Blues already have plans for their winnings.

“We would divide the $20,000 in half between the Palatine Family Crisis Fund which helps families who lose their homes to a fire or other disaster, provides for temporary housing, and even assists if there is a death in the family if they can't afford them,” Sivak said.

He said the other half would be devoted to the creation of a scholarship fund for music students to help them reach their dreams; either to help afford music-related trips or to pay for college tuition.

The Midnight Blues are an audition group from the Palatine High School concert choir, and are made up of junior and senior girls and sophomore through senior boys.

The date for the final competition has not yet been made public, but Sivak said the results for this leg of the competition are expected in mid-November.


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