ABOUT 400 ELEMENTARY and middle school choir students came together to praise God, showcase their singing talents and improve their craft at a special event on a hill overlooking the Pacific.
St. Edward the Confessor in Dana Point hosted nine K-8 schools for the 2025 Diocesan Student Choral Festival on May 1 inside its ocean-view chapel. Guest clinician Francisco Calvo, executive director of performing arts at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, led the annual event, which also featured a performance by Santa Margarita’s Chamber Singers.
SANTA MARGARITA CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PERFORMING ARTS FRANCISCO CALVO SERVEDAS THE GUEST CLINICIAN ON MAY 1 FOR THE 2025 DIOCESAN STUDENT CHORAL FESTIVAL AT ST. EDWARD THECONFESSOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL.
St. Edward’s music teacher Diane Marshall said she hopes the event enriches the students’ love and interest in music and helps them feel closer to Jesus.
“It’s such an amazing, faith-filled event where we get together and get to listen to other choirs sing,” Marshall said. “It’s so amazing to hear other directors and what they do with their students — and also to meet Mr. Calvo. He’s amazing.”
The Choral Festival provided a chance for the school choirs to perform two songs and then receive praise and constructive criticism from Calvo. Then they had the opportunity to immediately apply his feedback.
In addition to the host school, local students from St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bonaventure, St. Anne, Holy Family, St. John the Baptist, St. Cecilia and St. Joachim also participated.
St. Edward’s choir sang “Praise His Holy Name” and “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).”
Calvo commented on the beautiful selection and their tone
“What a beautiful, incredible sound,” Calvo said to the St. Edward students as they stood on the risers before the entire festival. “I’ve worked with ‘quote unquote’ professional children’s choirs that didn’t sound as good as you do. Bravo to you.”
ST. ANNE PARISH SCHOOL’S MARIACHI BAND PERFORMED FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE 2025 DIOCESAN STUDENT CHORAL FESTIVAL ON MAY 1 AT ST. EDWARD THE CONFESSOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN DANA POINT. THIS WAS THE FIRST YEAR A MARIACHI BAND JOINED THE CHOIR EVENT. PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARJORIE KELLY
Then, it was time to try out some new ideas. The first was for the song “Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone).”
“Your faces were all very, very in the music and very expressive, but I would like you to just free yourself up a little bit and see if you can move your bodies just a tiny bit,” Calvo said. “I’m not asking for any choralography, just a little bit of movement, especially on that incredible a capella section.”
Being first up to perform and get feedback was exciting for St. Edward eighth-grader Finley Ibarra, 13. She said she wants to know how to sing better next time instead of staying stagnant. She also wanted to learn from the different choirs.
“I love to sing,” she shared. “I’ve been singing since I was a little girl and I think singing is one of my best talents, so I’d like to improve it. I sing at home, I sing in Mass and I like to sing with my friends. I think singing is just a great way to connect to God.”
Ibarra and her sixth-grader younger brother Quinlan Ibarra, 11, said they felt like role models going first. “It feels nice to be a kind of role model for all the other schools,” Quinlan said. “[Calvo] told us we have to have some movement, and then the next people go up and they had a little movement, so I’m thinking they got that from us.”
St. Edward the Confessor hosted the annual event for several years until COVID hit, said Yvette Itano, music program director at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Costa Mesa. After calling the superintendent last year asking to bring back the Choral Festival, the event was brought back in the Diocese of Orange, Itano added.
“It was such a wonderful thing,” Itano said. “I said we can’t let this go. It has to continue.”
She added: “It’s a way to come and get some pointers and some feedback, but mainly, I say, it’s about our Catholic identity. We’re so disconnected. We rarely get together and we should get together: directors, students, musicians and choirs.”