Helser to perform in international honor choir at Carnegie Hall

Helser
Helser

GRAVETTE -- Like many high school juniors, Shelby Helser, of Bella Vista, doesn't know for sure what career path she will take. But whether or not she chooses a career in music, she will have achieved an honor that some musicians never reach.

After February, she will have performed in Carnegie Hall.

"It's going to be amazing," she said. Helser will spend five days in New York City as part of the Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall. She will be in New York on Feb. 6-10.

In October, she spent three days performing with the All National Honor Choir in Nashville, Tenn. She was the only Arkansan there. It was three days of singing 10 hours a day, she said. But she made a lot of friends there, including one from North Pole, Alaska.

For the Carnegie Hall performance, Helser sent a videoed audition tape last summer, after she had been nominated by her music teacher. They also asked about her grades, school activities and community service.

Although her teachers are excited that she has the opportunity to go to Carnegie Hall, they aren't happy that she will miss so much school.

"It's going to be killer -- catching up," her mother, Doni Helser said. Shelby is taking three Advanced Placement classes, trigonometry and Spanish II. It's an ambitious schedule for any high school student, especially one with so many other interests.

Shelby is a class officer, a member of the Student Council, the Spanish Club, the Book Club and an officer of the Key Club, a community service group. She also does drama. She doesn't have much free time, but what she has she spends hanging out with her friends and going to movies.

They've only lived in the area for a year, but when they considered the move, they considered school districts, Doni Helser said. They were moving from a large high school, like Bentonville, she said, but she was impressed when she toured the Gravette schools.

"We thought it would be nice to not have so many kids in the high school," Doni Helser said.

Shelby is looking at colleges, and the choir program is one factor that she considers. A school with a choir that travels would be an advantage, she said.

But she's not convinced that her future is in music.

"That's the dream," she said about a music career. "I realize it's very difficult. I'll definitely do choir in college, but I don't think I'll be majoring in it."

She hasn't made up her mind what her major might be, but she likes literature and history, as well as music.

Community on 01/29/2014