MVNU to host Honors Choir Festival featuring students from 31 schools

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — Mount Vernon Nazarene University will host the 2026 District 10 Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Honors Choir Festival on Saturday, Oct. 24, bringing together middle and high school vocalists from 31 schools across Ashland, Delaware, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morrow and Richland counties.

Students have been nominated by their directors to participate in the festival. The day will include instruction and rehearsals with guest conductors before culminating in a public concert at 3:30 p.m. in the R.R. Hodges Chapel/Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.

Dr. Dominique Petite will direct the high school choir. She is an assistant professor of Choral Music Education at Kennesaw State University, where she teaches music education and choral pedagogy, conducts the Treble Choir and supervises student teachers. Previously, she served as an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Choral Music Education at Ohio University.

Petite holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in choral music education from Florida State University. Before pursuing doctoral studies, she taught middle and high school music for 14 years, with a focus on treble choir and AP Music Theory. She also has an active performance background, including work with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus. Petite also performs as a blues and acoustic rock artist, currently with Coro Vocati (Atlanta) and Red Shift (Baton Rouge, La.).

Ann Schertzer, a middle school choir director at Bexley Middle School with three decades of experience, will lead the middle school choir. Schertzer also teaches piano, guitar, music technology and beginning orchestra. Previously, she served for 20 years as choral director at Grant Middle School in Marion.

Schertzer holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Otterbein University and a master’s degree in teaching musical artistry from Bowling Green State University. She has presented at the OMEA State Conference and serves as co-mentorship chair for the Ohio Choral Directors Association. She is also artistic director of the Clintonville Community Choir in Columbus.