Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn freshman Dawson Niichel was recently selected for the 2021 Opus Honor Choir. Sponsored by the Iowa Choral Directors Association, Opus is a statewide honor choir in grades 5-9 and is considered a prestigious honor for students who are selected.

Four choirs of 180 voices each are chosen through an audition process. This year, more 2,100 auditions were submitted, and only 720 chosen.

The audition criteria is singing a cappella and recording a scale, America, and a specific song excerpt according to the student's grade level. Opus students will learn additional music fo...