Snap, crackle, Pops! Keith & Co. rock out

Boston Herald

By Christopher John Treacy
July 6, 2007

The following is an excerpt from the original article:

The Boston Children's chorus was charming and cherubic, crooning "American Pride." The youngsters returned later for the annual patriotic singalong, complete with big-screen projected lyrics.

Boston’s Children’s Chorus gives free concert in SMA

Atención San Miguel

Friday June 22, 2007

The children’s chorus of Boston joins ANYÉL—a music program serving hundreds of children in San Miguel—in presenting a free concert on Thursday, June 28 at 6pm in the Angela Peralta Theater. The mission of the chorus is “to maximize the power of music to create social change.” The mission of ANYÉL is “to help the children of San Miguel create a better future through music.”

Founded in 2004, the Boston Children’s Chorus is a multiracial, multicultural arts organization that brings together a diverse group of children in grades 2-12 from many neighborhoods in the surrounding area. They will be singing from their unique repertoire which includes classical, folk and world music and spirituals. Although they perform locally in the Boston area, they also tour the world, believing that “the future of the arts is ensured by keeping music alive in the minds and hearts of our youth and communities.”

The hope is that this event, and others, will bring attention to our ongoing effort to form the San Miguel Children’s Chorus; to help this community learn about the value of such an opportunity; that parents and community members will come to appreciate and support the commitment necessary to create a strong, functional musical organization for our youth. This is provided by ANYÉL, free of charge to all San Miguel children, with the help of the Department of Education and Culture and the Biblioteca Pública…and much more support is needed!

On Friday, June 29, the visiting chorus members from Boston will get together with children from the ANYÉL program, including the girls and boys from the orphanages, Casa Hogar Santa Julia and Casa Hogar Mexiquitos. They will meet, eat, play and sing at a comida/ workshop event in the patio of the library, beginning at 2pm.

After enjoying the inspiring concert the evening before, now is your chance to give more support to this wonderful opportunity for our children: a delicious, healthy, homemade comida will be served to 120 children and adult helpers—and we need financial help to buy the food. Boxes saying “Comida for Boston/San Miguel Children” will be at the front desk of the library, the counter in the Santa Ana Café (library) and at Casa de Papel, Mesones & Reloj. Please put your donation of any amount into a box. ANYÉL will buy the food, prepare it and serve it. If you’d like to volunteer to help with preparation and/or serving, put your name and contact info in the box also, or call Juanita at 152-8188. Visitors are welcome to watch the workshop for the children at 4 PM.

Together, we can make this a positively unforgettable happening that will create a new consciousness in San Miguel about the value of music in the lives of all our children!

To view the article, click here.

Pops gets a little help from good friends

The Boston Globe

By Sarah Rodman
June 8, 2007

Old friends weren't only in the audience at the annual "Presidents at the Pops" gala Wednesday night, they were also on stage.

In addition to the corporate bigwigs -- who raised more than $1 million for the Pops' educational and community outreach programs -- raising a glass, familiar faces and voices lent their skills to a rousing night at Symphony Hall.

Pops laureate conductor John Williams was on hand to conduct from several of his scores. Local legend James Taylor, Simmons College graduate and veteran television journalist Gwen Ifill -- who got her start in Boston -- and conductor Keith Lockhart's personal friend and Broadway star Maureen McGovern all lent sparkle to the night. But it was the fresh- faced exuberance of the youngsters in the Boston Children's Chorus that stole the hearts of the assembled during the 2- hour, 15- minute performance.

The night got off to a suitably lighthearted start when Charlie Baker, president of the "Presidents at the Pops" fund-raising committee and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, came onstage to announce that Lockhart would be late because of a mysterious "transportation problem." The assistant conductor then led the orchestra through its jolly version of "Charlie on the M.T.A." as a film of the maestro getting lost on the T -- and running into Mayor Thomas Menino, Williams, and Wally the Green Monster in the process -- played on screens above them.

Lockhart then swept in through the side doors leading the red-jacketed Chorus up to the stage.

The Chorus, led by animated and encouraging director Anthony Trecek-King, performed two selections: the reverent yet joyful "Las Amarillas" and a nuanced "Deep River" that was filled with resonant lows and bright highs.

The orchestra picked the perfect match for its continuing salute to "Oscar and Tony" in McGovern, who as a film and Broadway veteran knows the terrain well.

Performing tunes by Harold Arlen, the radiant redhead was breathtaking doing a yearning, jazzy take on "Optimistic Voices," a scat-happy rendition of "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead," and an unamplified version of "Over the Rainbow," all from "The Wizard of Oz." That last song was truly riveting as the hall went pin-drop quiet to hear the bell-like clarity of McGovern's sweet high notes.

She followed with an equally impressive medley of "The Man That Got Away," "Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)," and "Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol' Me)" that had razor-sharp precision without sacrificing an ounce of interpretive emotion and reminded everyone of Arlen's many gifts.

Williams handled the second half conducting spirited passages from his scores of the "Harry Potter" films and " The Cowboys." He also had the pleasure of hearing the Chorus flawlessly perform his jubilant "Dry Your Tears , Afrika" from "Amistad" for a deserved standing ovation.

The night closed on a patriotic note with Taylor and Ifill providing narration to the iconic historical images of Steven Spielberg's "Celebration 2000: American Journey" -- commissioned by Bill Clinton for the millennium celebrations -- and Williams's score. The words, from great American literature, poetry, and public record, worked in concert with music filled with bold, brass figures , and contemplative string arrangements.

Brighton teens lend their voices to MLK celebration

The Allston Brighton TAB

By Meghan Kelly
Thursday, January 18, 2007

Five Brighton kids helped the country celebrate Martin Luther King Day this week by making their voices heard.

All are part of the 200-member Boston Children's Choir which, along with children's choruses from New York and Chicago, hosted a choral performance celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 15, in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory in Boston.

Natachia Kotomori, 14, Alexis Tice-Alarcon, 14, and Eddie Dodson, 13, have all been singing for as long as they can remember and have been in the choir since its inception in 2003.

Eddie Dobson, 13, from Brighton reherses at the Tremont Chapel in Boston (1/11/07) for the Boston Children's Chorus performance of "Raising the Roof" celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Song. The performance was January 15th at Jordan Hall in Boston.
(Keith AE. Jacobson/Staff Photographer)

On a break between the dress rehearsal and the night's performance, the teenagers were relaxed and confident about the upcoming performance. The rehearsal went well, but "it's long!" all three chimed in, laughing.

Kotomori attends the Boston Arts Academy in Boston. Her brothers, Jonathan, 12, and Leonardo, 8, also sing in the Boston Children's Choir in the Lyric Choir and Treble Choir, respectively, and also participated in Monday's concert.

Tice-Alarcon, who attends Mount Alvernia High School in Newton, played the piano as a younger child and participated in the Watertown Children's Theatre, most memorably in "The Wizard of Oz." She is looking forward to her upcoming voice lessons, which will be starting in two weeks.

Dodson attends the Pierce School in Brookline and has taught himself how to play the electric guitar. He also plays the trombone in the school band.

Kotomori said that she is considering music as a future career, and Dodson said that he would like to continue his musical career as well, with the possibility of playing his guitar in a band or with different people once he gets to high school.

The three keep busy with homework, extracurricular activities and choir rehearsals, which meet twice a week from September through June. They will all travel to Mexico with the choral group this summer for a series of performances.

The concert's significance on Martin Luther King Jr. Day was not lost on the teenagers. It's something they learned about in school, but "when you sing these songs, you see how memorable it is," said Tice-Alarcon.

All three agreed that the most moving piece was "Ani Ma'amin" arranged by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory, a song based on Jewish prayers of faith.

Anthony Trecek-King, the artistic director, said his focus was to bring together children from different races, areas and economic brackets to represent King's vision of togetherness and diversity in his speech "I Have a Dream."

Trecek-King said he felt that choirs are "particularly good" at bringing children of all different backgrounds together to make friends and learn from each others' experiences.

Let's reach for that

The Boston Globe

GLOBE EDITORIAL
January 5, 2007

GOVERNOR Deval Patrick's unorthodox inaugural yesterday managed to be both modest and magisterial. He brought the ritual directly to the people who elected him with the first public swearing-in, held outdoors at noon in uncommonly fair January weather. The tableau on the State House steps was striking for the way it brought the governor, legislators, and all the constitutional officers out to face the public, nearly at eye level. But the pomp and ceremony were also unmistakable, and the pageantry seemed to uplift the crowd. We hope this symbolic effort to bridge the gap between the government and the governed finds a way into the daily reality of Patrick's administration.

Patrick struck a note of determined optimism in his inaugural address, naming the very real challenges that face citizens living far from Beacon Hill: failing public schools, rising property taxes, drugs, violence, and poverty. But then he recalled that the state is at its best when people have high goals, faith that they are achievable, and the will to work for them. In creating the best-prepared workforce, in providing affordable health care for all, in developing a public higher education system to rival the elite universities, in ridding communities of violence, in establishing a fair tax structure, he repeatedly urged the crowd: "Let's reach for that."

There is honor just in the reaching, he seemed to say, and he was careful not to overpromise. Still, Patrick's call for change didn't stop at new policies or a new party in power. He wants a change in the very idea of government -- fueled by 16 years of minimalist and often cynical Republican administrations -- as incompetent, corrupt, and only for the connected. "Today we join together in common cause to lay that fallacy to rest," he said.

As he had throughout his campaign, Patrick called on Massachusetts residents to recognize the stake they have in each other. The good will he engendered is precious and cannot be squandered. Standing with her daughter and granddaughter in the crowd before the speech yesterday, Donna Bertrand of Leicester said Patrick's election represented a pragmatic chance to get government moving again on behalf of real people. "I hope he can unify the state and get things done instead of bucking heads all the time," she said. "It's time to roll up our sleeves now. You can get more done with teamwork than you can with the 'us and thems.'"

The sense of a new day for Massachusetts was palpable yesterday, borne on the exceptionally diverse and neighborly crowd. As the breeze freshened and the sun made a fleeting appearance, the Boston Children's Choir sang the gospel hymn "The Storm is Passing Over," written in 1905 by the masterful Charles Albert Tindley, who only learned to read and write after Emancipation. Keeping hope and realism in balance is just the first of Patrick's challenges.