[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          LOUISVILLE YOUTH CHOIR TO TOUR AUSTRIA IN JUNE 2006

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                          HON. ANNE M. NORTHUP

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 20, 2005

  Mrs. NORTHUP. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the recent 
selection of the Louisville Youth and Children's Choir to represent 
Kentucky and perform in the 2006 Mozart Youth Choral Festival in 
Salzburg and Vienna, Austria, in celebration of the 250th anniversary 
of Amadeus Mozart's birth. Receiving the opportunity to perform in 
Austria, home of the musical capital of the world, is a great honor and 
wonderful experience for these young musicians.
  Founded in 1967 by Italio Taranta, a former Professor of Music and 
Choral Conductor at the University of Louisville School of Music, the 
Louisville Youth and Children's Choir is the city's premier children's 
and youth choral training program, composed of young talent throughout 
metropolitan Louisville representing grades 4-12. Its repertoire has as 
much diversity as it has breadth, incorporating music from a broad 
range of cultural styles, from key classical and modern works to voice 
and instrumental soloist performances.
  Invitation to this international music festival is a testament to the 
Louisville Youth and Children's Choir's passion for excellence in 
singing and choral performance, which has captivated audiences for 
nearly thirty years. Thanks in no small measure to Mr. Don Scott 
Carpenter, Executive Director, and Mrs. Terri E. Foster, Director of 
Operations, the Louisville Youth and Children's Choir will be sharing 
their talents with their European peers and perhaps, new musical 
friendships will form as a result.
  Next summer, the hills will indeed be alive with the sound of music. 
The Louisville Youth and Children's Choir will be performing in two of 
the original venues where Amadeus Mozart himself performed: the 
Salzburg Dom (or Cathedral) and the Votivkirche (Votiv Church) in 
Vienna. In fact, not only did Mozart perform here but he was also 
employed as the Cathedral's Choral Director. In addition to visiting 
the many historical, artistic and cultural sites in Austria, the 
Louisville Youth and Children's Choir will have the great honor of 
performing under the co-directorship of Janos Czifra, who is the 
Cathedral's present Choral Director, and Dr. Z. Randall Stroope, one of 
America's foremost conductors and composers. I can only imagine the 
thrill this must be for a group of young music performers and 
enthusiasts.
  I am incredibly proud of such a talented group of artists which, next 
year, will find itself immersed with the sights and sounds that 
inspired some of the world's greatest musical geniuses such as Haydn, 
Beethoven, Schubert, and Strauss. Mozart mastered his first piece when 
he was five years old and, in time, performed before French and English 
royal courts. In their own special way, these young artists will be 
following in Mozart's footsteps when they perform in the great halls of 
history.
  Mr. Speaker, I join the state of Kentucky in praising the Louisville 
Youth and Children's Choir for their persistence and hard work. I would 
like to offer heartfelt congratulations for this most recent honor and 
I wish them the very best in Austria.

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