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Palm Beach County’s community children’s choir heading to NYC
One hundred middle and high school students and a few alumni of Young Singers of the Palm Beaches are set to perform on the world-famous stage at Carnegie Hall.
One hundred middle and high school students and a few alumni of Young Singers of the Palm Beaches are set to perform on the world-famous stage at Carnegie Hall.
Under the guidance of their conductor, the choir will perform four pieces from their recent spring concert at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. The pieces include Aurora’s “Apple Tree,” Z.Randall Stroope’s “Homeland,” “Hands Are Knockin” by Kyle Pederson, and “Cherokee Morning Song,” which is a Cherokee folk song with additional lyrics and arrangement by one of YSPB’s founders, Michael Yannette.
The Young Singers’ performance is part of the concert “A Light Shines” at Carnegie Hall. Other choirs performing at the concert are the National Masterwork Chorus, National Youth Chorus, and Voices of Hope.
One graduating senior says, “Thanks to YSPB, I have made countless friendships with those who share a love for singing like I do. Friends I would not have made if it were not for the beautiful community of YSPB.”
Plans for the trip have been in the works for about a year, and students have been practicing for months. The Young Singers have also been rehearsing six additional pieces for the Carnegie Hall concert. Young Singers’ conductors Shawn Berry and Connie Drosakis, founders of the choir, helped the singers learn the music — including how to pronounce indigenous words of the Zulu people from South Africa as sung in the piece “Hheshe.” Berry emphasizes that it is important to correctly produce the syllables including the rhythms of any arrangement, as well as communicate emotion to the audience. Berry and Drosakis have led similar trips in the past, and they know how much the experiences will mean to the youth in their choir. For some singers, this might be the farthest they have ever traveled from home or the first time flying on an airplane. During the trip, the Young Singers will make time between rehearsals to enjoy the sights of New York, including a visit to the American Museum of Natural History and a Broadway show.
Young Singers of the Palm Beaches is South Florida’s largest community children’s choir with over 350 singers in 2nd through 12th grade, from public, private and homeschools in Palm Beach County.
For more information on the Young Singers of the Palm Beaches, including how to become a choir member, visit yspb.org or call 561-651-4429.
The Carnegie Hall performance is Saturday, June 8, at 1:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at carnegiehall.org.
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Melinda Harstad, and Danielle M. Zaros.
Melinda Harstad, and Danielle M. Zaros.