Congratulations to sophomore Christopher Carrillo, who has been selected to participate in the prestigious California Choral Director's Association (CCDA) All-State Honor Choir.
Christopher earned a place on the choir after a successful audition in Redlands last month. This is the highest honor an individual singer in a choral program in California can achieve. Each year, thousands audition and only 200 are chosen.
“I’m very excited for it,” Christopher said.
Christopher has already begun preparing for Honor Choir’s March 16 performance at the California Choral Directors Association’s annual conference, to be held in San Jose. For now, he’s practicing on his own, but he will be able to unite with the rest of the Honor Choir members a few days before they perform.
The win was especially rewarding given the fact that Christopher almost didn’t try out. He was a little nervous about the competitive audition process. His teacher, BHS Choral Director Ryan Duckworth, convinced him to try. This marks the sixth student from Bloomington High School – and the fifth consecutively— to be chosen for the elite choir.
“It’s very affirming to the fact that we have built a robust vocal music program here at BHS that we keep having students selected for this honor,” stated Duckworth, who also serves as President of the California Music Educators Association, Southeastern Section. “Very few schools in our region even get students into the All-Southern choir, let alone All-State, so this is certainly something I am proud of.”
Christopher also loves acting, musical theater and drawing and recently starred as George Banks in the school’s fall production of Mary Poppins. He recalls learning to sing when he was three, encouraged by his father, who loved to do Elvis impersonations and gave him an appreciation of the classics. The first song he learned to sing was Nat King Cole’s “Angel Smile.”
The 15-year-old said he still prefers classic tunes from the 1950s-1970s. His own personal favorite song is the well-known “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, which he can deftly belt out in his own clear, bass voice.
Christopher sees himself as one day becoming a professional actor or Broadway star. He knows he’ll always love to sing.
“It puts me at peace,” he said.