The 2025 Nation’s Capital Festival of Youth Choirs doubled as the YouthCUE’s 35th Anniversary Celebration. The festival ran from June 14 through July 19. Wednesday evening’s Grand Concert at Washington’s National Cathedral commemorated the three and a half decades of YouthCUE ministry, including national festivals, regional choral celebrations, directors’ training events, International Chorus, National Honor Choir, CUE Choral Ambassadors, the San Antonio Youth Chorale, and a wide array of special concerts to bring awareness and raise funds for victims of natural disasters.
A book of letters was presented to the YouthCUE staff by the festival choirs’ directors, represented by Richard Suggs, of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC. The voluminous collection of letters, curated from YouthCUE directors, alumni, donors, and friends across the United States, makes for inspiring reading. It will be kept close to the staff for years to come as we move forward into the next chapter of YouthCUE innovation and creativity.
The Anniversary Grand Concert featured a soulful two-hour program including intermission. The mass choir sang 11 anthems accompanied by full orchestra, which also played a dozen orchestra-only selections comprised of classics, hymn arrangements, and movie soundtracks. Two stand-alone soloists sang hymn arrangements by Mark Edwards and accompanied by orchestra. Also featured were various scripture readings as well as a reading of the Gettysburg Address presented by a reader’s theatre group of 11 students, with orchestra providing a glorious and gentle musical underlay.
Although the in-person attendance at the Grand Concert was hampered by torrential rains the day of the concert, the livestream audience, including those who have watched the video recording of the concert, was over 6,000.
Randy Edwards
