Chamber Singers and Concert Choir are flying to New York on the Choirs of America tour to perform in New York’s Carnegie Hall. The trip, from April 10 to 14, allows the students to participate in the American Music Performance Invitationals as one of 12 nationwide choir programs selected.
They earned the invitation after last year’s Chamber Singers were awarded the gold rating and the Adjudicators Award at the Atlanta Heritage Festival.
Students have been working on a large selection of songs, including arrangements of “Of Crows and Clusters” by Norman Dello Joio, “Gaudete Omnes,” and “Sanctus.” They will be performing in conjunction with their own choir and choir programs from other schools. The singers have been preparing arduously for the event. Sophomore Julie Meng said, “Mr. Roberts pushes us far beyond what we are used to. I would be lying if I said that the nagging isn’t annoying sometimes, but I think we all know its worth it.”
The performance marks the first time this particular group has traveled abroad to sing, according to Meng. “That puts a lot of pressure on our rather large and talkative choir to do well,” she added.
Besides the invitational, students will be able to to explore the history of New York in their free time with visits to the Rockefeller Center, the set of “30 Rock”, and the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site.
Also, they are granted the experience of “performing on a world famous stage and working with world famous musicians,” according to Roberts.
To fund their trip, the students have been participating in various activities all year, such as selling boxes of chocolate on campus. Upcoming events include deals from Moraga’s Tangelo on March 1st, and Lafayette’s Pizza Antica on March 19th.
