Oxford Teen to Sing at Pre-Olympic Ceremony in London

freshman Tyler Panek is headed to the Olympics - well, sort of.

Last year, Tyler auditioned for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) national honor choir and became part of an elite group of only 300 singers, ages 11-15, nationwide to be chosen. Tyler was then hand-selected from this small group to join the ACDA national youth honor choir, ages 15-20, and invited to travel with them to London on a pre-Olympic, nine-day concert tour in June.

The ACDA honor choir will travel around London and surrounding areas, such as Cambridge, showcasing the best of US performing, conducting and composing talent. These concerts will occur as part of the cultural events heralding the forthcoming Olympic Games.

In addition to the ACDA choir, Tyler has participated in the Connecticut Music Educators Association Southern Regional Festival for the last three years, where he sings bass. He recently auditioned to earn a spot in the all-state CMEA choir and scored an impressive 228 out of 244, with a near perfect score in sight reading.

Tyler is excited to perform with them this April at a three-day music festival held at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. In addition to attending Oxford High School, Tyler attends the Education Center for The Arts (ECA) in New Haven for voice. After completing his academic classes in the early part of the day in Oxford, Tyler goes to ECA for separate music theater and music theory classes. This certainly makes for a very busy day as Tyler doesn't return back to Oxford until 5 p.m. and then attends after-school activities such as rehearsals for the high school’s play. It all leads to quite a long day with late nights or early mornings full of studying for this honors student.

Tyler wants to pursue a career in music education and become a music teacher himself one day. He says this is largely a result of the wonderful music teachers he has had in the past who have helped and encouraged him to find his love of music.