Colchester middle-schooler, Berit Mukeze, selected to sing in top-tier California festival

COLCHESTER — Berit Mukeze, an eighth-grader at Colchester Middle School, will be heading across the country this June to participate in a prestigious music festival. 

Mukeze was among just 350 finalists selected out of 10,000 middle and high school applicants from all over the world, to participate in the international Honors Performance Series choral program experience. 

Her journey later this spring will entail a stay in Pasadena, California, where she will spend five days of intense rehearsals working with other students to learn challenging music in order to perform for the community at Ambassador Auditorium, just outside Hollywood — all under the instruction of some of the leading choral directors in the field. 

“I was nominated to the festival and I was pretty excited,” she told the Sun, of her application experience. “Because this would be an opportunity for me to expand my music career. I really want to be a singer when I grow up, so I feel like this would be a good opportunity for me to try out something that is more than just chorus or concert choir.” 

“It was pretty nerve-racking,” she added, in reference to the uncertainty of that process. “My parents kept on rambling about the quality of how I sounded when I turned my auditions in, but other than that, it was pretty fun to do. I liked auditioning.” 

But when Mukeze found out she made it, everybody’s nerves gave way to joy and gratitude. 

“I was really happy,” she said. “I couldn’t stop talking about it to my parents — and my parents couldn’t stop bringing it up either.” 

Up until now, Mukeze’s formal musical experience has been largely within the CMS choir, as well as having some experience under her belt in a few regional shows through the Chittenden County District Festival for seventh and eighth-graders, which she has been selected to participate in for the last two years. 

Also this year, Mukeze will be going to an American Choral Directors Association children’s honor festival this coming May, to sing alongside folks from other choral groups statewide, an opportunity she landed via recommendation from her teacher. 

However, she’s never had an opportunity so large as what’s to come in June, in traveling to the Hollywood region to sing with the best of the best. In fact, this will be among her very first trips outside of Vermont — and she’s incredibly grateful for, and proud of, the opportunity she landed. 

“I am very happy for everyone who’s encouraged me to go do this,” she said. “If it weren't for this, I don't think I would have found my true meaning in music, because it shows how strong I am in music.” 

Mukeze looks forward to meeting new people in Pasadena who also find enjoyment in music and to making new friends — and of course, to continuing her own journey as a student and singer. 

“The thing that I like most about singing is projecting my voice out,” she told the Sun. “Because whenever I hear a song or something that’s playing on the radio, and I really like it, I would always want to sing along with it or find out the words to it so I could sing.” 

“I also like choir as well because it helps me,” she added. “I like to hear the harmonies and how they mix together. It brings satisfaction to me.” 

Before her interview with the Sun, Mukeze could be seen on the CMS bleachers chatting with friends, with a baby blue ukulele in-hand, surrounded by other kids running around playing sports and lawn games. She told the Sun she mostly plays her ukulele on her own. 

“I want people to know that I'm not just a regular student at school,” she said. “That my talents should be heard and that I’m not someone as simple as they think. Because I have music by my side and that shows that I am capable of doing what I’m able to do.” 

Her choir director at CMS, Daniel Leonard, provided a bit of context for that. 

“I think if you asked many students around school, they wouldn’t know Berit was musical,” Leonard said. “She could be overlooked by a lot of folks, just because sports are big, and Berit I wouldn’t say is a big extroverted person, or a huge dominant personality.” 

However, music is her thing, he said — and they both want others to know that she’s got something special to offer, especially knowing her skill has been recognized at such a high level. 

“Sometimes kids will sit and doodle, and they’re not bothering anybody and nobody knows they’re there, and then you look at their drawings and you’re like ‘Oh my god, you made that?’” Leonard said. “I think an opportunity like this is something for a student like that to be like, ‘No, just because you may not know who I am or what I do, I can do stuff.’ It’s really important.”  

Mukeze’s selection for the Honors Performance Series is not only a success story for her as an individual, but getting representation from the school in such a selective opportunity has also been a huge honor for the Colchester School District Music Program, Leonard told the Sun. 

“It is important to show Berit and her family that our community stands behind them,” he said. “[And] help remind Vermonters of the values of our public schools and the importance of music and music education.”