A Brief History of Vocal Music at DP
When Dos Pueblos High School opened in 1966, Amer Lincoln, was the first choir director. He had a knack for knowing exactly the right song for a group and specialized in staging a group or soloist for performance. Most notably, Lincoln adapted The Navy Hymn to become our school's Alma Mater which was posted in the gym for many years. After Lincoln’s last year as the choir director, Mr. David Potter came in as an interim teacher and created a group called The Company, an elite group of 16 singers.
Mr. Jack Huber became the director in the fall of 1974, and had several choirs, the largest choir, at one point, boasting up to 85 singers! Mr. Huber began a tradition of singing in the Candlelight Processional at Disneyland, earning a spot 27 out of the 30 times they applied. Two of which, the singers were invited as the Honor Choir and were showcased as part of the Fanfare Chorus. Mr. Huber served as our longest standing choir director, specializing in classical choral music and later pop music. He lead our school in song from the fall of 1974 to the spring of 1998 when Mr. Isaac Jenkins, affectionately called Mr. J, took over.
Issac Jenkins, affectionately called Mr. J, had started as the band director at DP before he went to teach band at Santa Barbara High, and then returned to DP as the choir director. When Mr. J took over, he moved from classical and pop tunes to jazz tunes, creating an elite jazz choir that would take first place at the Reno jazz festival in 2001. Following this win we remained in the top 3 each year when returning to the Reno Jazz Festival, and took two trips to Europe, in 2003 and 2005, to go and compete in numerous jazz festivals overseas. When Mr. J retired in 2007, he handed the choral reigns off to Mr. Brian Slotnick-Lastrico.
Mr. Slotnick-Lastrico continued in his footsteps taking the choir to compete in the Reno Jazz Festival, and for one more trip to Europe in 2007.
Courtney Anderson, known as Ms. C, was fortunate enough to work with both Mr. J and Mr. Slotnick-Lastrico during her time as a student at Dos Pueblos. The love of vocal music instilled in her by these incredible directors propelled her to continued her studies of music and vocal jazz in college at Sacramento State University. Ms. C is thrilled to now have the opportunity to return to her Alma Mater and give this next generation of musicians the same opportunities that were given to her.
