High Point students to represent school in All-Eastern Choir

SUSSEX — High Point Regional High School juniors Katie Arnold, 16, and Teresa Toriello, 17, were ready for the next challenge.

After having been part of the county and region choir three years in the past and in the All-State choir for two years, they will perform for the first time in the All-Eastern Choir from Feb. 5-8 in Baltimore.

Arnold and Toriello were the only two girls who had already completed All-State Choir at least once at High Point. Both altos, they sent in their recorded audition pieces last June, where they were required to sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” music scales and a solo.

“Unlike county, region and all-state choirs, the girls are responsible for thoroughly preparing on their own for the All-Eastern performance,” High Point Choral Director Theresa Riccardi. “When they arrive in Baltimore in February, they must know their music.”

Arnold, who lives in Wantage, is a second-year member of the High Point Chambers Choir, a prestigious ranking choral group within the school. She has been in the choral program for three years. She said she didn't fall in love with choir until her freshmana year.

“I’m very excited to perform in Baltimore,” Arnold said. “I found out I got into All-Eastern Choir the first day of my junior year. I was so happy.”

Following in the footsteps of her sister, Jessica Arnold, who participated in county, region and all-state choirs when she was in high school and is a music instructor at Architekt Music in Butler, N.J., Katie Arnold plans to major in music at Montclair University and said she would like to be a choir teacher.

In the past, Arnold received the High Point Achievement Award for Choir her first two years of high school. She also sings and plays keyboard in her band, Secondside.

Wantage resident Toriello also has been a part of High Point’s chorale program three years. She, too, plans to major in music:

“Ever since I was little, I always loved music and singing," Toriello said. "I grew up around it. I got into the Alternate Education Program (A.E.P.) Choir when I attended the Wantage School, and once I got into high school, I became more serious about music.”

Toriello has been a part of the High Point Chambers Choir for three years.

The High Point Chambers Choir performs two concerts during the school year. This April, the group will be travel to Baltimore to perform with the WorldStrides Heritage Choral Festival.

Auditions for the 2015 All-State Choir will be in April. Both Arnold and Toriello plan to audition. If selected, they will perform in the All-State concert their senior year.

“Words cannot express how proud I am of both of them,” Riccardi said. “It’s a fabulous accomplishment to make it into All-Eastern, and not an easy one. They both have impressive resumes, incredible work ethic and a tremendous passion for music. Teresa and Katie both foresee a future in music, so that’s a driving force behind everything that they’re doing.”