The AMIS Honor Girls Choir festival in Budapest, Hungary took place from March 30 – April 2. Association of Music in International Schools (AMIS) is a program dedicated to talented students who have a passion for music.
Each year there are various programs within AMIS, including Honor Orchestra, Honor Band, and Honor Choir. Auditions for the annual festival were held for grade seven and eight girls to attend the AMIS Girls Honor Choir. Every year the locations are set at a different school, and this year, the seven eighth-grade girls who were selected traveled to Budapest, Hungary with middle school and high school choir teacher Ms. Ross.
The group traveled to Budapest to sing at the American International School of Budapest. The girls auditioned for their place in this program in mid-November, and have been rehearsing a repertoire of ten songs during lunch times at school ever since.
There were seven participants for Honor Choir from ASL. These girls departed from London on March 30, during their spring break for four nights. They arrived in Budapest tired and nervous, yet ready to start practice early the next morning. All the girls were housed by host families who dedicated their space for visiting students attending Honor Choir. The next couple of days were focused on memorizing and rehearsing music with other girls who came from different schools.
Along with ASL, there was a total of 12 schools present, including the American School in Dubai, American School of Paris, and Frankfurt International School. The final product was a concert in the school auditorium on April 1, the final night for friends and family to watch, and the performance was a huge success.
In addition to singing for hours, all of the girls made new friends during this trip and had a fun and unique experience. The times when they weren’t singing, they were taking breaks, having lunch, and touring the city of Budapest with the choir group. It was an interesting experience for them, as they got to meet new peers and friends who came from such different backgrounds and cultures, yet have the same common passion and interest, which is music.
Eighth-grade student Sofi Janssen said, “I found the experience interesting because I was able to work with other students from different backgrounds and ethnicities. We were able to come together, share a common interest, and perform something that we enjoyed and something that others could connect to because of our diverse group of students.”
Although the group had stressful times practicing on their own and as a group, towards the end, all girls felt it was definitely worth it and everyone very much enjoyed the experience.
