Coro infantil de Boston estrena su primer disco
"Sing!" contiene una amplia selección de música proveniente de todo el mundo
El Planeta
REGION, P.2
07 al 13 de diciembre de 2006
Redacción -- Con el lanzamiento de su primer disco "Sing!", el Boston Children's Chorus embarca a sus oyentes en una travesía musical de canciones en latín y hebreo, canciones de cuna en japonés, canciones espirituales afroamericanas, canciones del evangelio e himnos americanos. Bajo la dirección de su primer director artístico Darren Dailey, y para enfatizar los tres primeros años del BCC, el disco sing! une las voces de cantantes de sus diferentes coros de "Concert", "Lyric", "Treble" y "Neighborhood" para interpretar la Trilogía de sueños, comisionada por primera vez al BCC, la cual es una poesía de Langston Hughes transformada en una pieza musical por el compositor Rollo A. Dilworth.
Su fundador y presidente Hubie Jones soñó con un coro musical en el cual niños de diversas razas y clases sociales se unieran a través de la música. El señor Jones ha jugado un papel muy importante en el liderazgo de más de 30 organizaciones comunitarias de toda el área de Boston. Hoy día, el BCC es una institución educativa, multirracial y multiétnica que reúne a muchos niños sin diferencia de raza, religión o nivel social para descubrir el poder del canto y para que sean los embajadores que representan a su ciudad en los eventos que se llevan a cabo tanto en ésta, como en sus giras nacionales e internacionales.
Copyright 2006 - Hispanic News Press LLC
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These kids can 'Sing!'
MetroWest Daily News
By Jennifer Lord, Daily News Staff
Sunday, December 10, 2006
The Boston Children's Chorus has performed in national tours, swung through Japan and was a highlight of the Democratic National Convention in 2004.
Their next appearance is their most exciting yet: They're coming to a CD player near you.
The multiracial chorus, now in its fourth performance season, recently released "Sing!" its first professional recording. The 15-song CD features the voices of 130 members of the Boston Children's Chorus' five performance groups.
"We were always anxious to put something on a recording, and, as we enter our fourth performance season, it seemed like a fitting time," said David Howse, director of programs and community impact for the Boston Children's Chorus. "It's a wonderful way to chronicle our history and a good chance for the kids to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor."
The Boston Children's Chorus was founded by Hubie Jones, who had a vision of a chorus where children from diverse backgrounds united in song. The first chorus came together in October 2003, and it is now in its fourth performance season, with about 50 performances a year.
More than 400 children have participated in Boston Children's Chorus programs since its inception. Earlier this year, the third annual Dr. Martin Luther King Concert by the chorus was broadcast live on WCVB-TV in Boston and rebroadcast to more than half a million viewers nationally by Superstation WGN to celebrate Black History Month in February.
"Sing!" is comprised of songs from the Boston Children's Chorus concert repertoire, with selections in Latin and Hebrew, a Japanese lullaby, African-American spirituals, gospel songs and American anthems. It also includes the first commissioned piece for the chorus, "Trilogy of Dreams," by composer Rollo A. Dilworth, who set three poems by Langston Hughes to music.
Elizabeth Strzepa, 15, a Shrewsbury resident, is now in her third year with the chorus. Heading into the recording studio with her fellow members of the concert chorus was a highlight, she said.
"I had never been inside a recording studio before. It was a really good experience," Strzepa said. "It sounded better than I thought it would. It sounds really, really good, really professional."
Strzepa, a soprano, auditioned for the chorus after spotting a magazine ad. Her previous performing experience was in her school chorus and in musical theater.
"I'm usually in Boston eight hours a week," said Strzepa, a ninth-grader at Worcester Academy. "It's a lot, but it's worth it."
Strzepa cannot hear her own voice on the recording, but she wasn't expecting to be in the forefront. "I was in the back row during the recording," she said. "But I can pick out some of my friends' voices in it, which is cool."
When planning for the CD, care was taken to ensure that the music was as diverse as the makeup of the choir.
"It was important that we have representation of all of our different choir programs," Howse said. "We wanted to make sure we had even our youngest kids, who might not be as polished. It was exciting for the kids. They really didn't know what to expect going into this, and they did remarkably well."
The CD is now available on the group's Web site, bostonchildrenschorus.org, for $20 (shipping included) and arrangements are being made to have it sold in venues such as the Boston Children's Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts.
"The response has been overwhelmingly positive," Howse said. "We're hoping this is just the start for our recordings."
Copyright 2006 GateHouse Media, Inc.
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News Feature
Blend Harmoniously
Stern hits the right notes
Boston Globe
By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
As an audition for "American Idol" setting aside the question of whether Simon Cowell would even consider a Canadian Adam Stern probably would never get past these judges.
Not after they witnessed Stern joining the Boston Children's Chorus during their pregame rendition of "O Canada" yesterday at Fenway Park. "No way he sang at that pitch," said Kevin Youkilis, who as Red Sox leadoff man was standing closest to the microphone during the ceremonies. "He had to be lip-synching."
Coco Crisp, the aspiring record producer, tried to be charitable.
"I heard him before," said Crisp. "Everyone has a voice. He has a voice like everyone else."
But does he have a good voice? "No," Crisp said.
But as someone trying to show he has the chops for regular playing time while Crisp, and now Trot Nixon, who strained his groin yesterday, recover from injuries, Stern has his own fan club. And it's growing bigger by the day. He started in Crisp's place in center field, delivered a two-run double, stole third, and scored in a four-run second inning that sent the Sox to a 5-3 win over Toronto in their home opener.
"I think Adam is a very good ballplayer," Nixon said. "He's only going to get better hittingwise, the more at-bats he gets. He's got speed, he's got a great arm in the outfield, the sky's the limit for him. He's the kind of guy you don't want to get rid of because he might turn into something really special."
Stern is one of those roster oddities known as a Rule 5 player, which refers to an annual December draft in which a team can select a player not protected on the 40-man roster, provided they're willing to keep the player on the big-league roster for the next season. Because many Rule 5 picks have limited experience, like Stern, who had never played above Double A in the Atlanta system, teams will often go through contortions to keep a player while not giving up a spot on the 25-man roster, even if it means inventing an injury or placing a player on a much longer convalescence than he might require.
The Sox, of course, are above such chicanery. Not for us to question the four months it took Stern to recover from the fractured thumb he sustained last March, or that he sprained the same thumb in August. And no one fakes surgery, like that underwent by Stern to repair tears in the rotator cuff and labrum of his shoulder last September.
Stern was absent so much, in fact, that he came into this season still needing to spend 17 days on the Sox roster to satisfy the minimum 90 days required by baseball rules for a team to keep a Rule 5 player active. Short of that, the Sox would have been required to return him to the Braves, and clearly the Sox had seen enough of Stern to prefer that he stick around.
"I think he's handled the situation real well," manager Terry Francona said before the game. "You're a Rule 5, it's almost, to the veteran players, like you're on scholarship. It's almost like sometimes I think that gets resented a little bit.
"[But] he's handled himself real well. He was quiet when he first came up, paid respect to the veterans, and slowly but surely started showing his personality."
He also has shown he can play. It started with his breakout game for Canada in the World Baseball Classic in March, when he had three hits, including a triple and home run, in a stunning upset of Team USA, a performance that inspired Nixon to call him the "Canadian Babe Ruth" upon his return to Sox camp.
Francona said all spring he was eager to see what Stern would do with 500 at-bats playing every day in Pawtucket (once he satisfied the Rule 5 fine print), but that all changed when Crisp fractured the knuckle on his left index finger while sliding into third base in Baltimore Saturday night.
Stern started the next day, had a couple of hits and knocked in a couple of runs batting leadoff. Yesterday, with Youkilis in the 1-hole and Stern batting eighth, he came to the plate in the second inning with one run in and runners on second and third. Batting lefthanded, he reached out and sliced an outside pitch from Josh Towers down the left-field line as both runners scored, giving the Sox a 3-1 lead.
Then, on an 0-and-2 pitch and Towers neglecting to check the runner, Stern on his own bolted to third for a stolen base. He scored on Youkilis's double.
A lasting impression?
"Definitely," Crisp said. "He has a great arm, above-average speed, good wheels on him, a good glove, a good hitter. Everything he needs to be a successful big leaguer."
Stern wasn't quite ready to embrace Francona's scholarship analogy, though. "Scholarship? I'd like to know what kind of scholarship I'm on," he said.
But he embraces the opportunity to continue matriculating at the big-league level, where, according to Nixon, he could become a player capable of hitting 15-20 home runs and stealing 20-30 bases a season.
And you know what? Youkilis says his pipes are actually better than he got to show yesterday, when he deliberately kept his voice inaudible because it would have clashed so drastically with the kids' sopranos.
Stern says the team asks him to sing "O Canada" just about once a road trip.
"When you're a rookie, you've got to sing something, your school song or fight song," Youkilis said. "He sings `O Canada.' He's actually pretty good. He throws stuff in there, instruments, the drums. He makes stuff up."
Which isn't bad for openers.
Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
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No place like home: Sox open at Fenway in grand style
Boston Globe
By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Permission slips will be submitted today. Something along the lines of "Charlie missed school yesterday because he was running a fever."
Truth is, Charlie and 35,490 other hooky players, rich guys, and folks who took personal days were gathered at ancient Fenway Park for the 106th Red Sox home opener. Instead of running a fever, Charlie and friends were running up the ramps when the gates opened at noon, and the first-place Red Sox celebrated this New England holiday with a winter- blueprint 5-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Not only that, but the Sox made their Massachusetts Lottery debut, becoming the first big league baseball team to be honored with its very own scratch ticket. Imagine: A team representing a Nation plays in a cathedral and boosts the local tax revenue. So much for separation of church and state on Yawkey Way.
Olde Fenway earned rave reviews after undergoing its most extensive renovations since Thomas Yawkey bought the team in 1934. High-rolling fans enjoyed new outdoor pavilions upstairs behind home plate and folks in the lower arena, some of whom paid $90 or more to park, were greeted with new food stands, staircases, wider concourses, and an improved sound system.
The product on the field wasn't bad, either. New Sox stopper Josh Beckett struggled for an inning, then blinded the Jays, allowing only two hits and no runs over his final six frames to improve to 2-0. New third baseman Mike Lowell, who came to Boston with Beckett in a deal made during Theo Epstein's self-enforced sabbatical, cracked four hits, including three doubles, to lead the offense.
Meanwhile, rookie Jonathan Papelbon picked up his fourth save in the last five games, and Franchise Face David Ortiz celebrated his contract extension with a cherry-on-top solo homer in the seventh. Not a bad 95th birthday bash for the old ballpark.
The Red Sox are 6-1, have won five straight, and lead the Yankees by three games.
Sox captain Jason Varitek gave his stamp of approval to the Fenway improvements. The catcher said the open-air seats behind home made Fenway louder, adding, "It can't do anything but create excitement, and this is a very exciting place to play."
Six months after the Red Sox were swept out of the playoffs by the eventual world champion White Sox, Boston fans were ready for baseball. Standing atop the Green Monster at 6:30 a.m. yesterday, one could see six young men playing Wiffle ball on top of the crumbling garage across Lansdowne Street from the Wall. While the sun rose over the right-field pavilion, and fans in tents began to thaw from an overnight stay waiting for standing-room tickets, the Wifflers set up a makeshift diamond and took turns trying to put some good plastic on the ball.
Repeat: This was at 6:30 in the morning.
Seven hours later, Red Sox announcers Joe Castiglione and Don Orsillo served as co-masters of ceremonies for pregame festivities. Curt Schilling, Gabe Kapler, and Papelbon received hearty hellos when the Sox lined up along the first-base stripe. Terry Francona wore his oil- changin' red sweatshirt, and birthday boy Trot Nixon (32) sported a cap that looked like it had been rescued from a flour bin. Ailing pitching coach Dave Wallace, standing in the dugout with the aid of crutches, was introduced to the crowd.
With Canadian-born Adam Stern standing behind them (Sox choreographer Dr. Charles Steinberg thinks of everything), the Boston Children's Chorus performed the Canadian anthem ("I can tell you Stern wasn't singing," said Kevin Youkilis). Then 5-year-old Jimmy Fund patient Jordan Leandre was wheeled onto the field by Ortiz, and melted the crowd (and both rows of ballplayers) with a stirring rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- punctuated by the customary flyover of A-10 jets from Bradley Air National Guard Base in Connecticut.
After the flyover, a couple of 1946 Ford convertibles came out of the magic door in center and carted six members of the Red Sox '46 World Series team around the warning track to the area in front of the Sox' dugout. Then Bobby Doerr, Charlie Wagner, Eddie Pellagrini, Don Gutteridge, Dave "Boo" Ferriss, and Johnny Pesky threw out ceremonial first pitches. The loudest ovation was reserved for Pesky, Mr. Red Sox.
Beckett's first pitch, a 94-mile-per-hour heater, was thrown at 2:08. Game-time temperature was 61 degrees with 7-mile-per-hour winds. Russ Adams grounded to short and fans nodded in agreement that this looks like the year.
Beckett struggled after the first out. He gave up a walk, a single, another walk, then walked home the first run of the home season. He escaped when Shea Hillenbrand grounded into a double play on his 36th pitch of the inning. The big righty growled when he came off the mound.
"He almost tore my hand off," said Francona. "I don't want to go anywhere near him."
Varitek added, "Some people don't let it out. Some people let it out. He's one that lets it out."
It was pretty clear that Beckett wasn't going nine, but just as he did in Texas, he settled down after the rough start, retiring 18 of the next 21 batters he faced. All agreed that the Hillenbrand double play was the biggest play of the day.
"A huge turn of events," said Youkilis. "A base hit or a double there might have taken him out of the game."
A combination of 2004 champs and new guys put a four-spot on the board for the Red Sox in the second. After Nixon walked and Varitek (another birthday boy, the catcher turned 34) singled, Lowell and Stern hit back-to-back doubles to make it 3-1. Then Youkilis doubled home Stern and it was 4-1.
An inning later, Nixon left the game with a mild groin strain. He was replaced by Wily Mo Peña. Wily Mo was a factor in Toronto's final piece of offense. After Ortiz homered to right to make it 5-1 at the end of seven, Keith Foulke came on to pitch the eighth and he might have escaped unscathed, but Frank Catalanotto lofted a high fly to the warning track in right and a backpedaling Peña made the crowd gasp as the ball clanged off his glove and into the visitors' bullpen. The tip-in two-run homer made it 5-3, but Papelbon rode to the rescue again in the ninth.
Veteran lefty David Wells gets the ball tonight, and another victory will give the Sox their best start since 1920.
Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
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Pequeñas grandes voces
El Coro Infantil de Boston, una organización multicultural y multiracial, con las puertas abiertas al talento latino
El Planeta
TENDENCIAS, P. 11
2 al 8 de marzo de 2006
Redacción. - En estos tiempos, cuando no es fácil mantener a sus hijos ocupados en una actividad artística, una gran opción para ellos es el Boston Children's Chorus, o el Coro Infantil de Boston, una organización cuyo objetivo es promover el desarrollo juvenil a través de la música y, fundamentalmente, usar a ésta como una herramienta para el cambio social.
Creado en el 2003 por Hubie Jones, el Coro Infantil provee a los niños con una educación musical intensiva, además que les da la oportunidad de adquirir experiencia en presentaciones públicas. Actualmente, el coro cuenta con 50 niños que están desde el 2do. grado hasta el 12avo. grado escolar. Dos niñas pertenecientes al coro, Louisa Ramírez-Flynn y Alexis Tice-Alarcón, ambas de 13 años, conversaron con El Planeta sobre su experiencia.
Alexis Tice-Alarcón, en una práctica del coro.
(Marcela Garcia/El Planeta)
"A mí me encanta cantar. Además haces muchos amigos y por eso nunca quiero faltar a los ensayos", dijo Louisa, cuyo padre es originario de la República Dominicana. Con apenas seis meses en el coro, ya se siente parte de la “gran familia” que es la organización. Por su parte, Alexis ha pertenecido al coro desde que se formó y gracias a él ha aprendido a ser disciplinada en su vida diaria. A ella tampoco le pesa asistir a los ensayos, a pesar de que son de una hora y media, dos veces a la semana.
"Vale la pena el sacrificio, es una oportunidad fenomenal para ella", señaló la venezolana Úrsula Tice, madre de Alexis, quien al igual que Louisa es una de las tres niñas hispanas miembros del coro.
El director artístico del coro, Darren Dailey, explicó los esfuerzos que hace la organización para reclutar a más miembros de las minorías.
"Tratamos de reflejar la diversidad que existe en Boston no sólo en las caras de los miembros del coro sino también en nuestro repertorio - hemos cantado canciones en español", dijo Dailey.
Además, la organización mantiene un coro comunitario en Villa Victoria, en South End, un área donde residen muchos latinos. Si a su hijo o hija le gusta el canto, no dude en llamar a la oficina del Coro al (617) 778-2242, o visite www.bostonchildrenschorus.org.
Copyright 2006 - Hispanic News Press LLC
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Boston Honors King's Legacy In Song
WCVB-TV
Monday, January 16, 2006
BOSTON -- Choirs from three major U.S. cities gathered in Boston Monday to celebrate the life and legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The third annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Concert was held Monday night at the New England Conservatory of Music's Jordan Hall. Hundreds attended the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast at the Convention Center in South Boston Monday morning.
"'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' Dr. King understood that dreaming was not enough. We must be dream keepers, and keep the dream alive," concert emcee and ABC's "Good Morning America" host Robin Roberts said during the event.
This is the first time in the United States that a children's choral concert was presented live on a major network affiliate celebrating the King holiday.
The Boston Children's Chorus, under the direction of Darren Dailey, shared the stage with two world renowned guests: the Chicago Children's Choir, under the direction of Josephine Lee, and the Young People's Chorus of New York City, under the direction of Francisco J. Nunez.
"(King) preached about children of all different colors and races coming together singing. He didn't mean it literally, but that is what we are doing," said Andrew Raynar, of the Chicago Children's Choir.
The Chicago Children's Choir includes 3,200 children, ranging in age from 10 to 18.
"We have children from everywhere, different races, different religions, different cities. And bringing (together) so many kids with the same passion, it is just, like, it is so powerful," said Julia Hanlan, of the Boston Children's Chorus.
The event merged storytelling and song to bring the civil rights movement alive. Inspired readings and narration during the event wove together some of the major themes characterizing King and his work.
Copyright 2006 by TheBostonChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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King-size concert; Boston Children's Chorus joins peers from Chicago, NYC to honor civil-rights leader
Boston Herald
By Tenley Woodman
Monday, January 16, 2006
The Boston Children's Chorus rehearsal at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church ended in tears last week.
Following a 12-minute choral piece, the young singers choked up, as did director Darren Daily when he told them, "See what I mean about the power of children's voices?"
The 3-year-old Boston Children's Chorus has traveled to Japan, sung at the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots' season opener and at the rededication of the Holocaust memorial in Boston.
Tonight marks another milestone, as it joins with the Chicago Children's Choir and the Young People's Chorus of New York City in "Raising the Roof: Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. in Song," which will be televised live on WCVB-TV (Ch. 5) at 7 p.m.
Tickets already have sold out for the Jordan Hall event. Those hoping to hear the chorus in person can attend its 1 p.m. dress rehearsal for $5.
"I've done some other groups, but this is amazing," said Julia Hanlon, 14, a two-year veteran of the concert chorus. "It's a really diverse group. Here kids have wanted to be in this. That makes the difference.
"I think our joy of music is going to come through," the Cambridge resident said of tonight's performance.
The program includes the words of poet Langston Hughes set to song in "Trilogy of Dreams," the 12-minute piece that elicited such strong emotion from the members in rehearsal. The performance will mark its world premiere.
Eddie Dodson, 13, of Brighton has been part of the chorus since it began. He said the experience has been surreal.
"It's such a big jump," said the Pierce School seventh-grader.
"When we sing together, we sing as one," he said."It seems like each person in the audience, we are singing to them individually."
Shrewsbury singer Sherylynn Sealy, 15, joined last September.
"I'm really excited about this performance," she said.
"Raising the Roof: Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. in Song" with the Boston Children's Chorus, Chicago Children's Choir and the Young People's Chorus of New York airs tonight at 7 on WCVB-TV (Ch. 5).
Copyright 2006 The Boston Herald
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[Illustration]
Caption: ALL AS ONE: Director Darren Daily, above, goes through the emotionally charged
'Trilogy of Dreams' with the Boston Children's Chorus. Top, the group practices for its MLK
show. STAFF PHOTOS BY JOHN WILCOX
Singing of Dreams
Boston Globe
Editorial
Sunday, January 15, 2006
"YOU NEED to sound like you're excited," Darren Dailey told the collection of preteens and teenagers standing on risers in Jordan Hall and singing with high, open voices.
"I dream a world. Yes, I dream a world." The music filled the honey-colored hall, where the 1,000 seats are almost magically pulled into an intimate arrangement.
It was a Monday night rehearsal of the Boston Children's Chorus, with Dailey, the artistic director, signaling starts and abrupt stops so that he could correct and encourage.
Coats were stuffed into the auditorium seats. Dress for the evening was adolescent casual: sneakers, jeans, sweatshirts, an orange headband and matching T-shirt. Latecomers trickled in, threw down their stuff, and squeezed into their spots on the risers. Teenage and adult musicians played along.
The rehearsals are for a concert that's meant to electrify Martin Luther King Day make it more than a day off from work and a chance to shop. Tomorrow night, the Boston Children's Chorus will join the Young People's Chorus of New York City and the Chicago Children's Choir in a performance that will be broadcast live on WCVB-TV (Channel 5).
Dailey signaled another stop. "That 'dream' is not going any place," he complained, referring to the lyric. Chorus staff and New England Conservatory students working as interns stood around the auditorium watching and offering feedback.
The song is part of a trilogy based on the work of the poet Langston Hughes and composed specifically for this show by Rollo Dilworth. A Chicago-based conductor, Dilworth spent weeks composing the music, weaving together the jazz, blues, and gospel that he says influenced Hughes. Dilworth listened to a rehearsal via a cellphone. Tomorrow he'll conduct one of the concert's pieces.
The practicing, composing, even the administrative work are all part of a sprawling artistic construction site. But there is more being built than a better holiday. Just over two years old, the chorus is fighting to become an established nonprofit organization, where city and suburban kids of various racial, ethnic, and financial backgrounds produce great art.
The thrill of the work is exciting kids about music, and using the music to make them citizens of the world.
"By performing in a space, you make it your own," Dailey says, whether the space is Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall, or Japan, where 28 older chorus members traveled last summer to sing in an international festival. The kids sing in one of three choirs, based on their age. And there's a neighborhood choir based in the South End.
Pop culture throws the spotlight on solo singers climbing the charts or trying to win on the television contest "American Idol." But singing in a chorus is a big, artistic civics lessons about the patience, discipline, and vision it takes to transform a crowd into a musical whole.
Performing in a chorus lets young singers watch themselves grow musically. The chorus, meanwhile, will have to deal with the changing voices of its boys and the competing priorities of its members, from sports to filling out college applications.
Then there's the fund-raising, a daunting task in Boston, where even the most harmonious knocks on corporate doors can go unanswered. With an annual budget of $1 million and three years of support from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the chorus is a small organ ization with a big job. Dailey wants to grow, adding more choirs in more neighborhoods.
Money is needed for travel, which puts the chorus and Boston on the national and international scene, and also pushes the singers to bond and make leaps in their performing skills. Teenagers will get to see themselves and their hard work reflected in the work of other teenagers in other choruses in other cities, defying the usual limits of geography.
"Good things happen every day. They just don't make the news," Adelisa Gonzalez said, watching the rehearsal. For a moment there was an intrusion of thoughts of the world just outside, where shootings mar young lives. Gonzalez works for the charitable giving program at Mellon Financial Corporation, which provides financial support for the chorus and other nonprofit organizations and tries to build capacity by encouraging its employees to join nonprofit boards of directors.
Still, in order to thrive, the chorus has to search for more "serious funding," according to Hubie Jones, the founder and president. He remembers a spring training camp in 2003 where the children were just "screaming." Now, he says, they have "learned how to use their voices."
In a way, the Boston Children's Chorus is a test, a series of questions about whether the Boston area can support a new source of vital, musical messages.
"Feel the spirit. Come on," Dailey cried out. "Have church!"
At the end of a song, the chemistry showed: the rehearsal had warmed, its halting starts melting into fluid performance. The urge to clap trembled in the room and faint scattered cheers broke out.
But palpably missing was an audience and its power to listen. It's easy to think one has heard everything there is to hear about having a dream, but put these words from Martin Luther King, and Langston Hughes, and others to music and there is more to hear.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists two old senses of "dream": "joy, pleasure, gladness, mirth, rejoicing" and also "music, minstrelsy, melody; noise, sound." With this understanding, a children's choir singing of dreams and of being dream-keepers does offer something new. These are dreams not merely made of images but rather of magnificent public performances. It's a dream superbly suited to a chorus, or a country.
Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
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Young voices will help celebrate King holiday
Boston Globe
Catherine Foster, Globe Staff
Saturday, January 14, 2006
On Monday night at 6:30, children's choruses from three cities will raise their voices at Jordan Hall in praise of Martin Luther King Jr.
Some 120 members of the Boston Children's Chorus will present the premiere performance of a song cycle, "A Trilogy of Dreams," based on three Langston Hughes poems, set to music by composer Rollo Dilworth. Joining them onstage will be two other choruses. The 40-member Chicago Children's Choir will perform "Songs of the Civil Rights Movement," and the 40-member Young People's Chorus of New York City will present "Songs of Freedom." "Raising the Roof: Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. In Song" will air live on ABC's Channel 5, the first time a US children's choral concert honoring King has been presented live on a major television station, according to Hubie Jones, founder and president of the Boston Children's Chorus. "Good Morning America" news anchor Robin Roberts will read from speeches and writings by King. On Tuesday, "Good Morning America" will feature footage from the concert.
"This is about us trying to elevate the celebration of the King holiday to a new level of significance and vibrancy in Boston," Jones says. "Over the last few years, there are more people going to work and not using the holiday in a meaningful way. We don't have important events that they can plug into. Now we have this evening, so people can have a powerful experience regarding the King legacy."
Jones says he expects to hear within a few days whether the cable superstation WGN in Chicago will broadcast the taped program throughout the Midwest and the South.
The concert itself is sold out, but $5 seats are available for a rehearsal Monday from 1 to 2 p.m.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Governor Mitt Romney, and Mayor Thomas M. Menino have all confirmed that they will attend the concert.
Boston Children's Chorus artistic director Darren Dailey says he found Dilworth, who's based in Chicago, through a composition Dilworth wrote several years ago, "Everlasting Melody."
"I fell in love with the piece," Dailey says. "We're closing with it." Then Dailey found the Hughes poems that, he says, "screamed the mission of the Boston Children's Chorus" and gave them to Dilworth to set to music.
This is the third King concert by the Boston Children's Chorus since Jones started the choir in 2003 as a way to inspire social change by having children from all socioeconomic backgrounds, races, and religions make music together. The chorus, made up of 131 children ages 7-15 drawn from 39 urban and suburban neighborhoods, has given more than 60 private and community performances since its sold-out debut concert on Martin Luther King Day 2004.
Branden Miles, 10, of Roxbury, has been involved with the chorus since the beginning. "I think the music is going to be great for ["A Trilogy of Dreams"], he says. "It's going to be about dreams and how Langston Hughes is talking about what he wanted to have happen later in life, and how it's happened now."
Last July, the Boston Children's Chorus traveled to Seto City, Japan, to perform at the International Children's Chorale Festival. Then in August, it sang the national anthem to kick off the New England Patriots opening game at Gillette Stadium.
"This concert is not only big for the Boston Children's Chorus and the two choruses with us," Jones says, "it's great for children's choral music itself. It's never had this kind of visibility, except the Harlem Boys Choir."
Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
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Children's choruses join voices to honor legacy of M.L. King Jr.
Boston Globe
By Johnny Diaz, Globe Staff
Sunday, January 8, 2006
Pride is in order for the Boston Children's Chorus, as members prepare to sing their hearts out for Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday.
All 1,100 tickets have been sold out for weeks for the third annual evening performance, which this year will also feature the Chicago Children's Choir and the Young People's Chorus of New York City, together for the first time on the same stage.
That's a lot of children, about 200 in all, raising their voices in honor of the civil rights activist, and the union of the three groups has prompted early birds to snatch up the tickets to the Jan. 16 event.
"It's becoming so popular, and that's one of the reasons it's selling out early," said Darren Dailey, artistic director for the Boston Children's Chorus.
"I haven't heard of anybody selling tickets on eBay yet," he said, joking about the demand for tickets.
But you can still catch the show another way. There will be a 1 p.m. open dress rehearsal that day, for $5, at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Ave.
Or you can tune into WCVB-TV (Channel 5) for a live broadcast from 7 to 8 p.m, another first for the Boston group, which is a diverse ensemble of urban and suburban youths grades 2 to 12.
"Now that's a bargain," Dailey added. He hopes the show will be picked up by ABC affiliates in New York and Chicago to give the three groups more of a national audience.
For more information, check out www.bostonchildrenschorus.org.
Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
To view the article, click here.
Musical melting pot
Marblehead Reporter
Swampscott Reporter
By Neil Zolot/ Correspondent
Thursday, January 12, 2006
This Monday, on Martin Luther King Day, the Boston Children’s Chorus, in partnership with the New England Conservatory of Music and WCVB-TV Channel 5, will present a live, primetime telecast of its third annual concert celebrating the legacy of Dr. King.
This is the first time in the United States that a children’s choral concert will be presented live on a major network affiliate celebrating the King holiday. Joining the Boston Children’s Chorus on the stage of NEC’s Jordan Hall will be the Chicago Children’s Choir and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City.
Among the singers will be 11-year-old Sophie Lev, a Swampscott resident and student at the Tower School in Marblehead. She’s part of the intermediate lyric choir. Although the lyric choir will not perform in the televised portion of the show, it will sing some African-based hymns as an opening act for the more advanced concert choir and the guest choirs.
The BCC was formed in 2001 by Hubie Jones, a local educational leader and panelist on the now-defunct WCVB public-affairs program "Five on Five."
"It was inspired by the Chicago Children’s Choir," explained BCC publicist Judi Garfinkel. "He felt Boston needed something similar, where children from all backgrounds could come together, grow musically and break down social barriers."
Lev joined last September in the spirit of Jones’ idea.
"I thought it would be fun to be in the city with a lot of different types of kids," she said. "I’ve gotten to know a lot of different types of kids. I consider them friends."
Added Sophie’s mother, Carol Lev, "I had read about the chorus and thought it sounded like an interesting experience. It draws kids together from all walks of life and different neighborhoods. When Sophie had time for it, we looked into it and she loves it. It’s a great thing to have experiences outside Marblehead and Swampscott and for her to meet children she might not otherwise meet."
The family has roots in both towns. Carol, a lawyer by profession but now a stay-at-home mom, and her husband Mark both graduated from Swampscott High in 1980 and lived in Marblehead for many years. Right now, they’re living with extended family in Swampscott while looking for a new house.
Even at 11, Sophie is an old hand at performing, having appeared in productions with the Marblehead Little Theatre and in school plays. Not surprisingly, she likes show tunes but also listens to popular music on the radio.
Her commitment to the BCC involves one afternoon a week, although more time has been required as the concert approaches. She’s pretty busy with the BCC, Hebrew School, gymnastics and ice hockey, although not as busy as she has been in the past.
"It works out; things are spread out during the week," Carol said. "Some years we’ve been racing from one thing to another. This year it’s more relaxed."
Nevertheless, Sophie sometimes reads during down time at chorus. Carol often waits for her but sometimes visits her older daughter, 14-year-old Phoebe, who attends a private school in Boston. She dances. It’s sort of an artistic family, at least among the younger Levs, with 9- year-old son Cooper playing drums. He also attends Tower, as did Phoebe at one time.
Carol said neither she nor Mark is artistic, although she remembers playing music around the kids. Sophie, it turns out, was able to hum "Over the Rainbow" before she could talk.
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Boston Children’s Chorus gives MLK Day concert
Beacon Hill Times
by Alexandra Bowers
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Gracias, Arigato, Xie xie, Danke schön: Saying "thank you" in a handful of languages is something that local singers Emilie Slotine and Maxwell Anthony know by heart. The song "Malo Malo," which says "thank you" in different tongues, is their favorite song in the Boston Children's Chorus MLK performance on Monday evening.
Music is important to both children, and the BCC, an arts organization that brings together children from all of Boston to discover the power of singing together, has given them a stage to express themselves.
Slotine, age 10, lives on Joy Street and attends the Ecole Bilingue, where she studies both English and French. She joined the BBC a year ago because she loves to sing. "I was part of my school chorus and I practically sing all day and annoy my friends," said Slotine with a smile, adding that while there are a lot of songs at the BCC to learn at one time, she loves being onstage and likes that the chorus performs nearly every month.
Anthony, age 12, lives at West End Place and attends the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, He has been singing with the BCC for two years. "You make friends and they teach you how to sing," said Anthony. "Mr. Dailey is a good conductor and he teaches you a lot about music."
In addition to singing, Anthony has studied violin for 6 years, and music may be his future career. "I want to be a conductor, maybe an orchestra conductor," he said. "My favorite composer is Beethoven. I think my favorite piece is "Ode to Joy."
Monday's concert celebrates Martin Luther King Day, and will be held at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall at 6:30 p.m. The BCC will be joined by the Chicago Children's Chorus and the Young People's Chorus of New York City.
Darren Dailey, the chorus' founding artistic director, and principal conductor of the BCC's Concert, Lyric and Treble choruses, describes the evening's program. "Essentially the music for this concert are songs of freedom and songs of the Civil Rights movement," said Dailey, adding that because the concert celebrates King's legacy, the theme of "dreams" led the BCC to commission a new choral work from composer Rollo A. Dilworth. Dilworth set three Langston Hughes poems to music: "Dreamkeeper," "Dreams," and "I Dream a World." The Concert Choir will perform its world premiere on Monday.
"The first is simplistic but very mysterious as the children's voices invoke the appearance of a dreamkeeper," said Dailey. "The second movement is a quasi–blues style and the third movement is set in a gospel style."
The concert has been sold out, but it will be telecast live on WCVB-TV, Channel 5 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for the 1 p.m. open dress rehearsal at www.bostonchildrenschorus.org or at 617-778-2242.
Singing opens world of opportunity for Samantha
Marshfield Mariner
By Ryan Bray/ rbray@cnc.com
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Samantha Hankey is making the leap from the her middle school stage into the living rooms of residents all over Massachusetts. The 13-year-old eighth grader at Furnace Brook Middle School will perform in "Raising the Roof: Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. in Song," the Boston Children's Chorus' third annual televised King Holiday concert honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King. The performance will feature the world premiere of "Trilogy of Dreams," a musical adaptation of select works of poet Langston Hughes.
Samantha Hankey has found her experience with the chorus to be a worldly one. Here, she enjoys the flight to Japan with
fellow chorus member Grace Thompson, 12 of Melrose.
(Courtesy photo)
The concert will air on Channel 5 January 16 at 6:30 p.m. from the New England Conservatory, and will be the first U.S. children's choral concert honoring Dr. King to be presented live on major network television.
"I'm so excited," Samantha said about performing in the event. "A lot of people get stage fright, but I love the stage. It's where I want to be."
Samantha, who has been singing since she was 7 years old, has been involved with the children’s choir since its inception three years ago. The choir started as a camp with 25 kids back in 2002 and has since expanded into a full program.
"She loves it," said Samantha's mother, Martha Hankey. "It’s a wonderful organization. They do amazing performances throughout the year, and this is the highlight. It’s really great."
As for what drew her to singing, Samantha said its always been something she’s turned to from a very young age.
"I just started singing," she said. "I always sang when I was little, and its just something I’ve stuck with."
It's a good thing she did. Since joining the children’s choir, Samantha has experienced a lot for her age, not only on stage, but around the world. Last July she visited Japan with the choir as part of an international children’s choral festival, providing her with an experience she said she'll never forget.
"It was so amazing," she said. "I still keep in touch with the family I stayed with while I was there. It’s just so different and it really opened my mind to how other people live."
This year's King Holiday concert joins the Boston Children's Chorus up with the Chicago Children's Choir and the Young People’s Choir of New York City. While the choir performed with the Young People’s choir last year and the Chicago choir in 2004, this year's performance marks the first time the three have shared a stage together.
The "Trilogy of Dreams" segment will center upon three Langston Hughes poems: "The Dream Keeper," "I Dream a World," and "Dreams." Hughes, like King, was an influential Black thinker who used his poetry to celebrate black culture. Samantha said while she wasn't readily familiar with Hughes' work prior to rehearsing for the event, she's come to appreciate his work.
"I wasn’t familiar with him (Hughes) at first, but fortunately we learned about him in school," she said. "His words sound great with Rollo (Dilsworth)'s music."
As a performer, Samantha’s vocal style adheres to a classical background. Outside of her role in the choir however, her tastes are more mainstream for teens.
"When I’m training I listen to a lot of classical," she said. "I really like Charlotte Church. But when I'’m home or just hanging out I listen to everything from hip hop to alternative. Just anything I like really."
Samantha said she views the upcoming performance as a way of representing the city of Boston through song.
"As a choir, we really are kind of like the ambassadors of Boston through our music. It’s kind of our motto."
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Amira Hardaway hits high C: the Children’s Chorus
Holbrook Sun
By Leeanne T. Stronach/ Correspondent
Friday, January 6, 2006
When Amira Hardaway asked to take singing lessons, her mother Tanya figured that it would be expensive. About the time of her daughter's request three years ago, Tanya had seen an advertisement in the Bay State Banner for the Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC). Tanya decided that she would let Amira take a shot at an audition for the BCC at the New England Conservatory of Music, which is the lead artistic partner of the chorus. Amira was chosen for the beginner's or treble group. This is the nine-year-old’s second year in the chorus.
Amira Hardaway
Not only has Amira learned how to read music and sing with the chorus, they have sung at some impressive venues. They sang with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at a venue for the League of Women Voters at Faneuil Hall, which featured a speech by U.S. Sen. John Kerry. They also took part in a professional recording session that produced a CD with the Mystic Chorale, based out of Arlington.
To Tanya’s surprise, she found that the fee for her daughter to be part of the BCC was affordable and the effort of traveling into Boston once a week for practices was worth it, she said. The fee for the chorus is based on a sliding scale about what a person can afford. Other perks to Amira joining the chorus have been that not only has she made many friends with other children her age, Tanya and her husband Alan have made friendships with several parents.
The BCC is a multi-cultural and multi-racial ensemble of boys and girls from Boston’s neighborhoods and surrounding communities, including Holbrook. The next performance for the BCC will take place on Monday, Jan. 16 at the New England Conservatory of Music’s Jordan Hall. This performance will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Accompanying the BCC will be the Chicago Children’s Choir and the Young People's Chorus of New York City. Although Amira will not be seen on television, the performance will be telecast live on ABC (Channel 5) at 6:30 p.m.
Amira has enjoyed her experiences with the BCC and doesn’t get too nervous before a performance, she said. Anira joined because she wanted to learn something new and thought that singing would be good exposure for her. In the chorus, Amira has performed many types of music, including jazz and religious music. She has learned several songs in different languages, such as Spanish, Japanese, and Hebrew, she said.
Amira is also a dancer. She has been dancing since she was two and takes ballet, tap, and jazz dance lessons at the Sherry Gold Dance Studio in Brockton. An only child, Amira has been home-schooled by her mother for the past two years. Before that, she was attending the Lighthouse Church Christian Academy. Once she reaches the sixth grade, she will return to a private school, Tanya said. Amira said that she likes being home-schooled because it can be easier to focus without the noise from other students interrupting her concentration.
Since Amira is home-schooled, interacting with children from the chorus provides a great social time for her, Tanya said. Amira gets together with her chorus friends sometimes to extend their relationship beyond the chorus. Tanya has found that other parents of children in the chorus home-school their children, too. This makes her feel that she has met other people who are on the same page as her about their children, she said. One of the best aspects of the BCC is that although the children come from a variety of backgrounds and socioeconomic status and race are not significant to the chorus, parents and children alike enjoy the music and have fun, Tanya said. Those interested in more information about the upcoming performance or the BCC can log on to its web site at bostonchildrenschorus.org.
Leeanne Stronach can be contacted at ltstronach@aol.com.
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Raising the Roof: Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. in Song
Bay State Banner
Monday, January 6, 2006
The Boston Children’s Chorus, a multicultural ensemble, will dazzle a Jordan Hall audience with a world premiere performance of "A Trilogy of Dreams," based on the works of poet Langston Hughes. The concert honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nationally-renowned guests, the Chicago Children’s Choir and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, will share the stage at the concert, to be telecast live on Channel 5. Through artistic excellence and the power of children singing, 3 major cities will unite in this blockbuster program, elevating the celebration of the King Holiday to a new level of vibrancy and social significance.
The concert takes place 1 p.m. at Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston. General admission tickets for the 1 p.m. dress rehearsal are $5 and can be purchased at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall Box Office (617) 585-1260, A Nubian Notion, 57 Warren St., Roxbury, or online at www.bostonchildrenschorus.org.
Click here to find this and other events on The Baystate Banner.
Children’s chorus to honor MLK
Boston Globe
by Johnny Diaz
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Pride is in order for the Boston Childrenout for Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday.
All 1,100 tickets have been sold out for the third annual evening performance Jan. 16, which will also feature the Chicago Children's Choir and the Young People's Chorus of New York City, together for the first time on the same stage. That's about 200 children raising their voices in honor of the civil rights activist, and the union of the groups has prompted early birds to snatch up the tickets.
But you can still catch the show another way. There will be a 1 p.m. open dress rehearsal the day of, for $5, at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Ave.
Or you can tune into WCVB-TV (Channel 5) for a live broadcast from 7 to 8 p.m, another first for the Boston group, which is a diverse ensemble of urban and suburban youths, grades 2 to 12.
For more information, check out www.bostonchildrenschorus.org.
Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company
To view the article, click here.
