The Mississippi Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra will perform a free concert at Union Baptist Church in Picayune Wednesday night at 6:30, said Anthony Turner, Minister of Music at Union Baptist.

The choir and orchestra are made up of 111 students from across Mississippi, Turner said. The group engage in a six-day tour to churches across the southeastern U.S., he said. The audition process for the choir includes musical ability and Christian testimony, he said. MBASYCO last performed in Picayune in 2014, Turner said.

As part of the program, the group conducts mission work every year, Turner said. This year, the choir’s mission project is to perform at two correctional facilities, he said.

Young people from Union Baptist Church have participated in the choir in past years, Turner said, but no students from the Picayune area are in the music group this year. Turner hopes the choir’s performance will introduce a new generation of people to the choir’s performances, he said.

“Hopefully we will be able to have some who will audition for next year’s choir,” Turner said.

Turner has received requests from at least one community member to bring the choir to Picayune, so her own church music director could see the group, he said.

Turner and his wife are part of the choir’s leadership team and travel with the group for performances, he said.

Turner said his own children went through the choir.

“They were very much impacted by their friendships with other students in the choir and they’ve become lifelong friends,” Turner said.

The concert will be held in the church sanctuary located at 1628 West Union Road, Picayune. There is no charge to attend.