Southwind High School is in its third year of operations as the eighth and newest Shelby county high school.  We will graduate our first senior class this spring (2010).  This section is included to provide information on the choral program.

We boast some of Shelby County’s best singers.  We have a budding choir program with huge potential for success.  We are focused and determined to become a powerhouse program in our district, state, and beyond.  We have students selected for the All West Honor Choirs.  We will be showing our skills in the Regional and (tentatively) State choral festivals.  And, we also have one of the best competitive high school gospel choirs (as an extracurricular club) in Tennessee.

Our goal at Southwind High School is to achieve choral excellence in all areas.  Our choirs have a basis in the classical tradition and perform music from all historical periods back to the Renaissance.  We strive to achieve comprehensive musicianship with a focus on literacy, tradition, history, and culture.  We also encourage solo singing and personal advancement at Southwind High and beyond to higher education.

I am Alex Favazza (Mr. Favazza), the choral director at Southwind High.  Some information and credentials on me:  I am originally from Memphis, TN.  I went to Middle Tennessee State University and studied conducting with Raphael Bundage, former student of choral greats such as Robert Shaw, Julius Herford, and Alfred Mann.  I studied voice with Pedagogue Christine Isley-Farmer, student of famous pedagogues Cornelius Reed and David Jones.  I studied vocal pedagogy with opera singer H. Stephen Smith.  And, I studied piano with David See.  I have worked extensively with middle schools and high schools conducting and teaching in the middle Tennessee area.  I have worked for Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music with the Nashville Boy’s Choir.  And, I have worked for several churches including St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, and I currently work for Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Memphis.

Auditions for the Southwind Choirs will be held in the spring.  I encourage anyone interested in the choir program to audition.

Any questions? Email me at afavazza@scsk12.org.