The first Beyond Borders International Choir Festival will be held May 3 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. It will culminate in a concert featuring four different area choirs and a massed choir under the direction of Max Mendes from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
The four area choirs featured in the concert include Key of She from Creston; Resonance, the Selkirk Valley men’s choir (singers from Creston and Bonners Ferry); She Sings, the Selkirk Valley women’s choir (singers Bonners Ferry, Creston and Troy, Mont.); and Boundless (Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, and Creston).
Max Mendez will conduct all the members of these choirs plus other individual singers from the region in three works for this concert. The singers will enjoy rehearsals and clinics with Mendez throughout the day, culminating in the performance at 7:30 p.m. The concert will include a wide variety of music ranging from classical to contemporary, from Mozart to Billy Joel.
Mendez is currently director of choirs at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene. He has been an active part of the Inland Northwest music community for the last 12 years and divides his time between conducting, teaching and performing. He served as director of music and choir director at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes in Spokane, Wash., from 2002-2012. He has been a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator for festivals and workshops throughout Idaho and Washington, including the Spokane School District Festival of the Arts, and served as a conductor and musical director for Eastern Washington University, Spokane Civic Theatre and Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre.
As a choral artist, he has sung with the Jane Hardister Singers and the Los Angeles Chamber Singers. His versatility as a singer ranges from opera and oratorio to musical theatre, cabaret, and popular styles. Mendez is a founding member and now artistic director of Spokane Choral Artists and a proud member of Male Ensemble Northwest. He received his master of arts degree in conducting and bachelor of arts in music from Eastern Washington University.
The concert will begin at 7:30 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bonners Ferry. Suggested donation is $10.
—BEYOND BORDERS