COLUMBIA -- You might have heard about a new television show starring an always-upbeat choir director, who takes a group of aspiring high school students under his wing, channels their energies and inspires them to reach new heights with their musical performances. If you were thinking of the Fox Channel's "Glee," think again. Think closer to home. In fact, think right here in the Palmetto State.

On Friday, Oct. 30, world-renowned composer, conductor, musician and arranger Tim Janis will be at ETV's Columbia studios working with at least a dozen different South Carolina high school choirs on a musical collaboration of epic proportions for a new program that will air on ETV in March 2010. With the working title "Celebrate America," the new program features hundreds of high school students from across South Carolina, including Orangeburg-Wilkinson, Hammond, Belton-Honea Path, York Comprehensive, Dorman 1, Dorman 2, South Pointe, Gilbert, Loris, Beaufort, Clover and Northwestern.

Janis picked a song for each of the choirs to perform, including arrangements of everything from "America the Beautiful" and "Blowin' in the Wind" to "Shenandoah" and "Danny Boy." The choirs have been working on their selection for weeks, and will be going into the ETV studios on Oct. 30 to record their performances.

The end result will be a concert featuring some of the best young voices in the state, and while this broadcast will be seen all across South Carolina, footage from some of the performances might also be included in a nationwide production that Janis is working on with high school choirs from other states.

Janis, who has worked with such icons of the entertainment industry as Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, James Earl Jones and George Clooney, said that his vision for the "Celebrate America" concert is two-fold: to not only support public television and the arts, but also to support students that are working to give back to their community through the arts.

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