The annual Iowa High School Music Association All-State Festival begins tomorrow at Iowa State University, and Perry senior soprano Breanna Penenger will be making her third and final appearance.

The festival will run for three days, with rehearsals and workshops tomorrow and Friday. On Saturday, the 71st annual All-State concert will be held in Hilton Coliseum. Penenger was chosen for the choir after her first audition, which was a different experience for her, though she would argue it was a more nerve-wracking experience. “This was the first year that I was not on that recall list. And I think just the amount of terror that hits you when you realized, ‘I’m either already in or already out,’ I had never experienced that before! And I wasn’t exactly prepared to feel that kind of terror. So I think just the amount of relief that I felt, and just the excitement of realizing, ‘I’m going to be able to go back and be part of that amazing experience again.’ It’s very humbling.”

The festival wraps up a process that began in July for Penenger, and she says the concert at the end of everything is more of a victory lap for participants. “We’ve all put in so much work, and we want to share our hard work with parents, friends, (and) the other people who come to watch the All-State concert. And I think really what the concert’s about is just being able to share the joy of what we have discovered as we’re putting this music together and then rehearsing it with the whole choir of 600 people. So I think that’s really probably the best part about the concert.”

The concert will start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with awards starting at 7:15. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $22 plus fees. To hear more from Penenger, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.