Registration Open!
11-12 Festival Choir
Audition Information
Step 1: To participate, submit the Registration-Form
(Participation fee of $100 due upon registration)
In an effort to maintain a balanced ensemble, membership in the All-State Festival Choir is on a "first-come, first-served" basis. Each section has a limited number of positions, and those will be filled in the order of registration received. In the event balance becomes an issue, MCDA reserves the ability to close sections or decline registration to balance the choir accordingly.
T-shirt, 1 lunch, and rehearsal tracks will be provided
Students are responsible for their own music
Questions??
Contact Heather Blackwell
MCDA 11-12 Missouri
Festival Choir Information
July 13-14, 2026
University Plaza Hotel, Springfield, MO
Event Information
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The participation fee covers: music packet, practice tracks, t-shirt, 1 meal, a performance in Hammons Hall.
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Open to all students who were accepted as members, alternates, AND honorable mention to the 2026 Missouri All-State Choir
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Rehearsals: July 13-14
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Performance July 14 (evening)
Meet the Clinician
McKenna Stenson
As an innovative conductor, teacher, and vocalist, McKenna Stenson has built a career inspiring students to sing confidently and motivating communities to create lasting change through song. Her energetic demeanor fosters a spirit of positivity within her ensembles, creating a community grounded in compassion, trust, and resilience.
Stenson currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at Florida State University. She conducts Levana, an advanced treble ensemble, and teaches undergraduate choral methods, graduate conducting, and graduate choral seminars.
She is an active guest conductor, clinician, presenter, and adjudicator for choirs across the United States and abroad. Recent engagements include teaching conducting at the Cornish-American Song Institute’s Music Across the Pond in the British Isles, adjudicating choral festivals across the U.S and Canada, and serving as a guest clinician at All-State honor choirs and high school choral invitationals throughout the country.
Stenson has held state leadership positions and presented at state, regional, national, and international conferences, including the 2023 World Symposium on Choral Music in Istanbul. She was nationally recognized as a Country Music Association Foundation Music Teacher of Excellence in 2020 and was recently named a National Finalist for both the 2023 American Prize Conducting and Choral Performance Competitions.
Before joining the faculty at Florida State, Stenson was an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, where she served as Associate Director of Choral Activities, conducting the KU Glee Club and Oread Singers.
She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas, a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University, and dual Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Education and Vocal Performance from The Ohio State University.
Earlier in her career, Stenson was the Choral Director and CFPA Vocal Director at Charles J. Colgan High School. Named “New Faculty Member of the Year” in 2017, she directed five choirs during the school day and three after-school ensembles. Under her leadership, the Colgan Choral Ensembles performed at prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage and served as arts ambassadors throughout Virginia. In 2018, the Colgan Chamber Ensemble was selected to perform at the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference, receiving a standing ovation for their performance.
In her free time, Stenson enjoys running, traveling with her son Luka and husband Bryan, and amplifying the voices of women conductors through her podcast conduct(her), which she co-founded with her sister Kyra Stahr.
Note: MCDA does not offer refunds in the event the student cannot attend.
For safety reasons, all rehearsals are closed to the public. Only those who are official chaperones or registered members of the conference (including single day registration) are allowed in the rehearsal space. Please help us maintain the safety of our singers by adhering to these requirements. For liability reasons, members are not supposed to be official chaperones. But in the event that there was no other option, members still need to register for the conference. Thank you for supporting the organization that supports these ensembles!