 |
|---|
Press
Rhode Island Children's Chorus
Thursday, December 13, 2007
By Mark Reynolds
Journal Staff Writer
It’s a frigid Friday evening in the capital city. And from the ice-encrusted streets outside the State House, it’s obvious that something unusual is happening under the building’s grand rotunda.
When the building’s heavy front door swings open, two things come pouring out. One of them is heat. The other is the rich sound of 70 children, ages 8 to 16, carolling together in perfect harmony.
Meet the Rhode Island Children’s Chorus. They line one of the hall’s grand staircases, altos arrayed to the left, sopranos to the right. The song — “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” — is a fun selection and it demands far less singing skill than some of the more complicated hymns and chants these youngsters will perform in concert this weekend. But the rotunda, of course, is a special showcase for any group of performers and the ambitious Burrillville-based group is having fun with the choreography. While singing “hello to friends you know and everyone you meet,” pairs of singers turn toward one another and smile as if saying hello. Then, they wave and smile in the other direction. “Oh ho, the mistletoe” they sing, their hands over their heads. They all lean to one side and then lean to the other. A few minutes later, they file into the gilded office of Governor Carcieri to entertain the governor and his wife, who, it turns out, sang choruses through her entire childhood. “Last time I was here, I was like wow,” one of the young singers says as he enters the room. It’s quite a thrill for Jordan Carvalhal, 9, of Pawtucket. “We’re singing for the governor and other important people like politicians,” he says. Of course, the carolling and pictures and pageantry make quite an evening for a child.
However, the 2007 holiday season is just the beginning for this choir; organizers have designs for an expansion that would incorporate as many as 300 young singers. The chorus, comprising children from 22 towns and cities in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut is inviting young singers to audition. The idea is to model the Rhode Island Chorus, founded five years ago, after the renowned Toronto Children’s Chorus. “That’s my intention,” says the chorus director, Christine Noel, a former school teacher who foresees a major expansion sometime after she earns her doctorate from Boston University about a year from now. Meanwhile, after just a few years, the group is already hitting notes that would test the skills of college-age singers, Noel says. “I think it’s a turning point for the choir in so many ways,” she says. “in terms of their musical and vocal ability.”
The selections for the group’s two centerpiece concerts this weekend will give the singers a chance to show their stuff. A concert Friday night, at 7 at St. Joseph Church, 92 Hope St., will open with a medieval chant: “Hodie Christus natus est,” Latin for “Today Christ is born.” The Chamber Chorus will follow the opener with selections from Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, accompanied by Sorana Rus on harp and Elsie Law on piano. On Sunday at 3 p.m., all 70 members of the chorus will perform their annual winter holiday concert at the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, at 1 Cathedral Square, in Providence.
Noel, a 30-year-old Woonsocket native, has guided the group since she and Joyce Wolfe, of Burrillville, another former teacher, worked together to establish the chorus five years ago. The chorus has worked with the Providence Singers, the R.I. Philharmonic, the Boston University Choruses, and GrammyAward-winner Bill Harley. It was featured in the world premiere of Julian Wachner’s composition, Jubilate Deo. For the past three years, the group’s singers have placed first in their various age divisions at the Music in the Parks Choral Competition in Agawam, Mass. They’ve also taken first place for being the best overall choir in the competition. The main chorus rehearses for two hours each Sunday at the Berean Baptist Church in Harrisville.
“My mother always said I was good at singing,” says Keda Song, an aptly named 8-year-old Providence boy. “I’ve liked singing for a long time so I decided to join the chorus.” He and his friends look forward to each chorus practice and to seeing Noel, who likes to make them laugh as they learn how to sing to sheets of written music.
“The music touches their hearts,” says Noel, “and I can see it in their eyes. We feed off each other.”
mreynold@projo.com
Members of the RI Children's Chorus are featured on Grammy-Award winning
Bill Harley's new children's CD, I Wanna Play. For more info, visit www.billharley.com
...... 