Dr. Randi Carp, who led the Los Alamitos High School choir program for 16 years, passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 6. She succumbed to breast cancer after battling the disease for many years.
She began her teaching career in 1975, and headed the LAHS choir program from 1992 to 2008. Under Carp’s direction, the program grew to be nationally recognized as one of the finest programs in the country. She also taught locally at California State University, Fullerton and at the University of Southern California.
“Randi’s contributions as a choir director at Los Alamitos High School are legendary. She loved what she did and set high standards that brought out the best in her students. It was that passion and the belief in her students that made her one of the most beloved teachers at Los Al,” said current LAHS Choir Director David Moellenkamp.
“She impacted the lives of countless students during her time here and throughout her entire career. Her legacy will stand the test of time and will live on through the voices and the lives of all the students and parents she touched,” he said.
Among her many noteworthy accomplishments while at Los Alamitos, she took the Xpressions concert choir to London and won the Heritage Festival for Concert Choirs in 2004. In 2005, she directed the school’s SoundFX choir as they became backup singers for former Styx lead singer Dennis DeYoung during a performance in Cerritos. Carp also took three choirs to China to perform in Shanghai, Beijing, and the Great Wall of China in 2008 as part of a musical salute to the Olympics. She was also named LAHS’s Teacher of the Year in 2005.
In 2008, she relocated to the east coast where she remained active in choral music as a teacher and as a much sought after adjudicator and clinician.
Services on the east coast are pending, and a memorial concert is being planned locally, with details to be announced at a later date.
