High school choir students are traveling from Apple Valley to the Big Apple — to sing at Carnegie Hall.
A group of 37 Apple Valley High School choir students, led by director Joel Beyer, will join several other high school- and university-level choirs from around the country for an afternoon performance Sunday, April 9, at New York City’s famous concert hall. They’ll be performing at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, the hall’s flagship venue.
Alongside the New England Symphonic Ensemble orchestra, the chorales will perform “The Cry of Jeremiah,” a 2012 work by the acclaimed composer Rosephanye Powell. D’Walla Simmons-Burke, the director of choral and vocal studies at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, will conduct.
“These kids get opportunities to brush arms with some of the really high-powered, well-known people in the choral music world,” Beyer said.
The New York trip is open to several of Apple Valley’s choir classes. Because not all choirs meet at the same time during the school day — and not everyone in each choir class is attending the trip — Beyer has scheduled several weeks of weekend and early-morning rehearsals.
“With the orchestra and college choirs, I’m really excited to hear everything as we’re singing,” junior Ellie Stumbo said. “You feel like you’re a part of something a lot bigger.”
When the students arrive in New York on Thursday, April 6, they’ll have a packed schedule.
Part of the day Friday and Saturday will be spent rehearsing the music with a piano accompanist and the other participating choirs, which include groups from North Carolina Central University, Voorhees University in South Carolina and Huston-Tillotson University in Texas. In fact, these rehearsals will be the first time Apple Valley students will be able to hear themselves in the full vocal arrangement.
On Sunday morning, singers will participate in their first and only dress rehearsal backed by the full orchestra. Then, at 2 p.m. on Easter Sunday: It’s showtime.
Unfortunately, the students’ upcoming performance will not be livestreamed nor able to be viewed from home, Beyer said.
Throughout the weekend, Beyer has also arranged for the group to take a bus tour of New York City, attend a Broadway show and visit the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
“I’m really excited to learn from the older people who might have more experience than us,” senior Savannah Richards said. “I know there’s a handful of people who might be continuing choir into college, and I think that’ll be a really good experience for everyone to learn from that level.”
Beyer typically arranges an invitation for Apple Valley High School students to join a Carnegie Hall performance every three years, but the 2021 trip was canceled due to Covid.
Sitting with a group of trip participants on a recent afternoon, Beyer asked how many would be visiting New York City for the first time. Nearly every hand in the room shot up.
Students said they’re excited for the social and cultural opportunities of the trip, too — developing closer relationships with classmates, meeting singers from around the country, seeing New York City.
Experiences like this can create unique bonds, senior Haley Smith said.
“It’s a new place, new experiences that we all get to have together, and that’s really fun,” Smith said.
For senior Ellie Voge, whose mom sang at Carnegie Hall with her own high school choir, the trip is an important milestone.
“I grew up learning about it, and honestly, this is kind of a dream for me,” she said. “It means a lot to me to do it with everyone in the choir, too.”
