The Bulldog Choral Benefit Concert, featuring the Gunnison Valley High School concert choirs and the Snow College Cadence Chamber choir, returns to Gunnison’s historic Casino Star Theatre for a music program fundraiser on Thursday, March 16 at 7 p.m.

Last performing together at the Casino Star Theatre just prior to the pandemic, this musical concert features students from both the Gunnison Valley High School and Snow College music departments. The concert will be led by award-winning choral conductors, GVHS choral director Jody Allred and Director of Choral Activities at the Horne School of Music, Michael Huff.

Allred has been teaching at Gunnison Valley schools for 27 years. He will be leading the GVHS premiere auditioned choirs Cantus!, an all-women’s choir and first auditioned choir in GVHS history, and Sonos which is a mixed chamber and show choir. Both choirs have performed all over the state of Utah, including at Utah Jazz games, the Christmas at Temple Square concert series, at the reopening of the State Capitol Building and many region and state music festivals. Nearly 400 GVHS alums have been a part of the choirs combined history. Allred holds a Masters of Music from Brigham Young University and previously taught voice lessons and lead the Chamber Choir at Snow College.

Huff is both the director of choral activities and head of the piano area at Snow College where he leads multiple choral groups including the Cadence Chamber Choir. He was the founding conductor of Utah Voices, a critically acclaimed adult community choir, and served for over a decade as the associate conductor for the Utah Symphony Chorus. Prior to teaching at Snow College, Huff was executive director of Legacy Music Alliance, a Utah nonprofit organization that serves music education.

The Cadence Chamber Choir is an auditioned group of 32 students who sing for a variety of functions both on and off campus and perform music all over the stylistic spectrum – from classical or “traditional” to jazz, rock, musical theatre, and other “popular” genres.

Tickets for this fundraising concert are available at the door with a suggested donation amount of $5 per adult.

Since opening its doors in 1913, the Casino Star Theatre has provided both cinematic and live entertainment to citizens of Gunnison Valley and its surrounding cities. CST continues the tradition of being a cultural center today as a nonprofit organization dedicated to both the restoration of the historic building and its mission of bringing high quality arts and entertainment options to the local area.

The Casino Star Theatre Live Performance Season is supported in part by local sponsorship partners ACT Aerospace, GTELCO Lightburst Broadband, Gunnison Valley Hospital, Gunnison Implement Company and State Bank of Southern Utah. The Casino Star Theatre Live Performance spring season will finish with Funny Guys who do Tricks on March 9 and the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s touring production of “Every Brilliant Thing” on April 15.

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