School of the Ozarks hosts the Mark Twain Choir Conference for high school choir students from five different schools in the area. The event took place on the College of the Ozarks campus, in School of the Ozarks’ Hook gymnasium.

POINT LOOKOUT, MO. — On Wednesday, Nov. 1, School of the Ozarks hosted the Mark Twain Choir Conference for high school choir students from five different schools in the area. The event took place on the College of the Ozarks campus, in School of the Ozarks’ Hook gymnasium.

The School of the Ozarks participates in the Mark Twain Conference for sports and activities. There are seven schools in the conference, including public and private schools. School of the Ozarks hosted the choir clinic this year.

Each year, the music departments from each conference school collaborate to host an all-day music clinic where the students combine to form a large ensemble and work with a guest clinician. There were 65 students participating in the event from five schools. The schools that attended were Everton, Bradleyville, New Covenant Academy, and School of the Ozarks. Marshfield also performed because their choral director, Julianna Pyle, was the guest clinician. Marshfield is not a part of the Mark Twain Conference.

Julianna Pyle was the guest clinician on the piano. Pyle is a 2018 summa cum laude music education - dual certification graduate of Evangel University. She currently teaches at Marshfield High School, serving in her fifth year as their director of choral activities.

The students were also given the opportunity to work with Amy Kirk as their musical director for the day. Kirk earned her piano performance degree from Missouri State University and currently works as a piano teacher.

The purpose of the event is to bolster small school choir programs by joining together to prepare and present impressive choral music that would be difficult to perform with a smaller choir. The culminating concert at 2 p.m. was presented to the S of O students and families.