THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY College of Music presents
The Capital Children’s Choir
Suzanne Rita Byrnes, Director
Addy Burwell, Collaborative Pianist
CCC Interns
Francis Gonzalez & Malik Mullino
2040 Field Experience Students (Mark Belfast)
Jordyn Anderson, Kristen Beck, Emma Brock
Will Coey, Addie Elliott, Erin Kane, Samuel Mercier
Addison Peltier, David Pinero, Arden Ruby
Maren Smith, Rebecca Stewart, Wesley Vaden
Volunteers
Aspen Atwood, Crystal Berner, Calliope DeChant, Amanda Stewart
High School Student Volunteers – Peer Role Models
Sierra Zaydon, Markus Jackson
Monday, April 28, 2025
6:30 p.m. | Opperman Music Hall
ABOUT THE CAPITAL CHILDREN’S CHOIR
The FSU Capital Children’s Choir is a community outreach program for children in Kindergarten through eighth grade. The FSU College of Music sponsors CCC. The program was first started in 1957 under the name “Tallahassee Junior Chorus” and was directed by Lois Laverne Schnoor (later Ballard). After several years of non-existence, the choir was reinstated as a children’s opera chorus by then teaching assistant Michael Braz (under the guidance of Dr. Clifford Madsen) in the summer of 1981 and later became the children’s choir proper. After another lag, faculty took the helm of the program. Many thanks to Dr. Judy Bowers and Dr. Kim VanWeelden for upholding CCC for a decade each! In time, the program evolved into be the ensemble standing before you today, which includes internship, field experience, and volunteer opportunities for college students, as well as peer role model opportunities for high school students.
Thanks are extended to Dr. Mark Belfast for sending us enthusiastic and helpful field experience students and to Dr. Ann Herrington and Crystal Berner for providing the elementary music lab experience for our students in 2-5 grades. The aim of the program is to teach appropriate singing techniques and music to children in an enjoyable, safe, and noncompetitive atmosphere; we focus on process over product. We appreciate our pianist, Joy Griffin-Willis (garnet), and our substitute pianist, Elijah Davis.
Thank you to the Florida State University College of Music students who donate their time to work with the children and to the parents/grandparents/guardians who bring them to us every week! Gratitude is extended to the Dean of the College of Music, Dr. Todd Queen, and to all our community supporters. Thanks are also extended to our generous donors.
The FSU Capital Children’s Choir will resume on Monday, September 8, 2025.
ALL MEMBERS WILL BE ACCEPTED STARTING NOW!
Visit “FSU Capital Children’s Choir” on Facebook or music.fsu.edu/capital-childrens-choir for details.
Have a safe and happy summer break!
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
Garnet Choir
Hello Traditional
I Hear Thunder French Folk Song
Breezes Are Blowing (Rain Chant)
Luiseño folk song, Native American
Five Fat Sausages Chant
The Flea (Scale Song) Traditional
Fingers Chant
Tiny Tim Traditional
The Dipsy Doodle Dragon
Rocking Horse Players
Scale Song HiDino
Je suis une pizza
Charlotte Diamond
We are the Dinosaurs Laurie Berkner
Birthday Song Traditional
Goodbye Traditional
Choir
Little Things
Mark Burrows
Joy Griffin-Willis, piano
The Wind
Listen to the Rain
Lightning!
I Want Two Wings
Jack & Jill
Wayne Bisbee
Combined Choirs
Stephen Lawrence
Greg Gilpin
African American Spiritual arr. Earlene Rentz
Katie O’Connor-Ballantyne
How Can I Keep from Singing arr. Ginger Littleton
Yo Vivo Cantando (I Live to Sing) arr. Jerry Estes
Sing Your Way Home Folk Song
Gold
Seminole Choir
B.
Isaac Roman, flute; Maximilian Levesque, bass
GARNET CHOIR
Sophia Ajamajebi, SAST
Brojan Genesis Belknap, Homeschooled
Emerald Rosalie Belknap, Homeschooled
Isla Burns, Homeschooled
Aria Cherrybon, Killearn Lakes Elementary
Lilly Cooksey, Homeschooled
Nairobi Dallas, Brownsville Preparatory Institute
Elijah Dorce, SAS
Emmett Fields, Cornerstone Learning Community
Alli Fuller, Homeschooled
Conor Grennan, SAST
GOLD/SEMINOLE CHOIR
Wiley Burns, Homeschooled
Owen Burns, Homeschooled
Eden Burns, Homeschooled
Addison Butler, Gilchrist Elementary
Lina Fields, Cornerstone Learning Community
Ellis Fuller, Homeschooled
Ella Garcia, Homeschooled
Ava Gonzalez, SAST
Joanna Gonzalez, Cornerstone Learning Community
Markus Jackson*, Godby High
Quincie Lewis, Florida High
Ally Li, Killearn Lake Elementary
Serenity Li, Hawks Rise Elementary
Trinity Li, Hawks Rise Elementary
Sierra Love, Cobb Middle
Eliana Ocampo, Homeschooled
Leo Pang, Homeschooled
Josiah Parker, Homeschooled
Cali Krueger, Conley Elementary
Jude A. Kyllonen, SAST
Gabriel Mohammed, Astoria Park Elementary
Gideon Parker, Homeschooled
Timothy Parker, Homeschooled
Henry Power-Blaiklock, SAST
Lucy Power-Blaiklock, Into the Woods
Meera Rain Seepersaud, Buck Lake Elementary
Emma Skinner, SAST
Nate Valentine, DeSoto Trail Elementary
Maxine Pierre
Elysia “Eiya” Porter, SAST
Jenna Poston, Kate Sullivan Elementary
Mia Queen, Trinity Catholic
Penelope (Penny) Robinson, SAST
Miles Samples, Killearn Lakes Elementary
Zoe Samples, Killearn Lakes Elementary
Ali Schimpf, DeSoto Trail Elementary
GG Tucker, SAST
Nubian Singleton, Conley Elementary
Sarah Kate Welty, Cobb Middle
Joseph Willis, Homeschooled
Lottie Willis, Homeschooled
Charlotte Yeoh, Killearn Lakes Elementary
Sierra Zaydon*, Homeschooled
Aidan Zhang, Tallahassee Classical School
Amy Zhang, Tallahassee Classical School
Angela Zhang, Tallahassee Classical School
* Peer Role Model
SASC - School of Arts and Sciences at the Center
SAST - School of Arts and Sciences, Thomasville Road