By Dan McGrath
After making more than 20 out-of-school performances in 2023-24, the world-renowned Leo Choir wasted no time in re-establishing itself as the school’s No. 1 attraction, landing two high-profile gigs during the first week of the new school year.
On Thursday, August 15, Mrs. LaDonna Hill and her singers traveled to Cincinnati for two appearances at the 36th annual Black Family Festival, a huge gathering that draws thousands from all over the Midwest for a celebration of religion and family values. Leo performed at the Corinthian Baptist Church on Thursday and the Word of Deliverance Heritage Breakfast on Friday, sharing billing with journalists Roland Martin and Courtis Fuller, entertainer Doug E. Fresh and dozens of other luminaries scheduled to appear at the four-day event.
Then it was back to Chicago for a Saturday evening performance at a hospitality event for delegates, journalists, political operatives and other Democratic National Convention guests sponsored by the DNC Host Committee in the AON Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier.
More than 1,000 guests packed the ballroom for the Choir’s four-song set, making it the largest audience to hear the Leo Choir since its halftime performance at a Chicago Bears-New York Giants game at Soldier Field in 2022.
The Choir got on the Host Committee’s radar back in May, when it performed at a get-acquainted hospitality event welcoming journalists and other likely convention-goers to Chicago at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The Choir was received so enthusiastically that organizers suggested an invitation to a Convention-related event would be forthcoming, and they delivered on that promise.
“We are very grateful and very excited for these opportunities,” Mrs. Hill said. “We are a little school doing big things, and we’re able to do them because of the amazingly supportive faculty and staff we have at Leo. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
As it pertains to the Leo Choir, “world-renowned” is becoming a statement of fact.