A brief overview of the classes, festivals, concerts, and activities of the MidSouth Music Institute are depicted below. A digital copy of our annual program book and links to our Facebook and Instagram pages will also give a picture of the many ways the organization seeks to make the world a better place through the gift of music.
For the 2023-2024 Season, CoroRio is reaching 112 students in the 1st-12th grades with weekly choral ensemble classes through five choral ensembles. The structure of these ensembles is decided via a meet-and-greet audition process between the student and the directors, and placement is based on skill acquisition rather than directly on age or grade level.
These ensembles collaborate with one another and with the Mississippi River Chorale on a regular basis for performances, as well as a variety of other local school, community, and professional music ensembles.
By including the First Steps in Music Preschool Class and the Mississippi River Chorale in the MidSouth Music Institute offerings, we are seeking to bring music "from womb to tomb" to our community. During the 2023-2024 Season, First Steps is Serving 12 students ages 2-5 and the Mississippi River Chorale serves over 45 adult singers, ranging from 18 to 70 years of age.
Christmas with CoroRio is held annually at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts in Memphis, TN and is the product of many collaborative relationships and many artists and art forms. Every CoroRio choir takes part, collaborating with the Hernando High School Symphonic Winds, a professionally hired string ensemble, the LRP Dance Studio, and J. Rodney Leath, who paints live on stage throughout the concert. 199 students and 71 adults took the stage for the 2023 program.
A video of the 2023 Concert is available to view here.
The DeSoto County Joint Choral Concert brings together middle and high school choral programs from across DeSoto County to perform in a non-competitive environment, celebrating the connective power of music. Schools perform one selection for an audience of their peers and the general public, bringing together a varied repertoire from many different genres, cultures, and time periods. For the 2024 concert, 538 students took the stage with 13 choral ensembles, including the Mississippi River Chorale, the adult community ensemble of the MidSouth Music Institute.
MMI hosts a Professional Development Workshop for music educators annually every spring. During the 2024 workshop, 6 workshop presenters led sessions for 18 elementary music educators, 11 middle school choral directors, 11 high school choral directors, 5 community and church choral directors, and 3 college students majoring in music education.
The 2024 Bluff City Choral Festival will take place April 12th and 13th at the Heindl Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Northwest Community College. There are 8 middle schools and 12 high schools scheduled to attend, representing 34 choral ensembles and over 800 students from across Mississippi and over midsouth states.
At Camp CoroRio 2023:
- 3 Preschool Students
- 33 Elementary Students
- 27 Middle School Students
- 58 High School Students
- 13 staff artists
- 8 guest artists
- Choral ensemble classes for students of all ages and ability levels
- Break out classes in ukulele, Orff instruments, bucket drumming, song writing, handbells, Pop a capella, musical theater, college audition prep workshop, and more!