Choir from Springfield’s Emmanuel Christian wins contest, will sing national anthem on Dragons’ opening night

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Springfield’s Emmanuel Christian Academy Select Choir is the winner of the Dayton Daily News/Dayton Dragons National Anthem Contest. The troupe will sing the anthem at Day Air Ballpark on opening night, Friday, April 8, when the Dragons host the Fort Wayne TinCaps.

Amy Allen, choir director at Emmanuel Christian Academy, says the group received a “superior rating” at the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) district contest, the highest rating given, and they look forward to competing in the state contest.

“This choir regularly demonstrates diligence, dedication and creativity to produce beautiful music while helping and encouraging one another,” Allen said in a release. “They all bring their own set of special talents to our choir, and then use them to help each other get better. They are quite literally a piece of my heart.”

Allen also said the students were very excited to hear they had been selected as the grand prize winners.

“The students were ecstatic, jumping out of their seats, hugging each other,” she said. “Our choir is able to do some really cool music because of the way they have grown. There was not a lot of opportunity with COVID, but they have worked really hard to encourage each other.”

The Dayton Daily News has served as the sponsor for all 22 years of auditions. All auditions in 2022 were virtual. Total number of submitted auditions showed an increase of 38 percent over the previous average. Submissions were reviewed by the Dragons panel of judges.

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