The Lawrence Children’s Choir has been selected to perform at the Southwestern American Choral Directors Assn.’s convention next week in Little Rock, Ark.

Artistic director Janeal Krehbiel says being invited to perform is an honor.

“The last year we submitted a tape, over 400 were sent in but only 50 were chosen,” she said. “It is indeed a highlight in the life of this choir.”

The group will give a preview of its program during its spring concert Saturday at Free State High School.

Selections for the concert required the children to learn songs in German, Romanian and Iroquois. The Romanian piece, “Braul Amestecat,” was especially challenging.

“This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Krehbiel said. “But they are learning it faster than I am.”

The choir will open the concert with a Handel aria and follow with a Mozart piece arranged by Krehbiel’s brother, Paul Crabb. The choir also will perform a song in German by Schumann, “Sweet Honey on the Rock,” “Let it Shine,” an a cappella version of “Family Tree,” and “Watane,” an Iroquois arrangement.

The choir will be joined by the Choristers preparatory choir, directed by Pam Bushouse, and the Kansas University Chamber Choir, directed by John Paul Johnson.

Lawrence Children's Choir members, from left, Briahn Simons, Justine Ahle, Daniel Potter, instructor Janeal Krehbiel and Emily Foerschler practice a song Monday at Southwest Junior High School, 2521 Inverness Drive. The choir has been invited to a prestigious choral music conference in Arkansas.

The festival will run Wednesday through Saturday. The Lawrence Children’s Choir is the only Kansas choir to compete in the festival.

Other choirs selected are from Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Missouri.

On the way back to Kansas, the choir will perform at a museum in Little Rock and also in Branson, Mo.

The 75 area elementary and junior high students in the children’s choir are not new to traveling. Last year they performed on a tour of England, and in 2000 they sang at Carnegie Hall in New York.