Choir students from Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute were front and centre in New York.
On Nov. 26, the GCVI chamber choir performed at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan. The choir took the stage with Grammy-winning choral composer Eric Whitacre.
Director Lane Osborne said the repertoire was challenging, but it only motivated the kids to perform better.
“There was definitely a lot of growth for them in this process to become better musicians and to gain more skills as musicians to put their best performance on Carnegie Hall’s stage,” Osborne said.
The students also performed at Carnegie Hall last June.
As part of the audition, Osborne said she sent audio recordings to the concert organization in Manhattan just over a year ago.
She said the students rehearsed for more than 60 hours ahead of their performance.
Osborne said the biggest thing she noticed from her students was their teamwork.
“Not only did they perform at an incredibly high calibre, but I think that was also very reliant on them being close as friends, but also as a team, and constantly looking out for each other in every situation that we encountered while we were there,” she said.
Osborne said Whitacre was so encouraging but also demanded a high calibre of work from the choir. She said the students came in very motivated and focused following last year’s performance.
She said their performance with Whitacre has only raised the students’ abilities.
The week prior, they performed in Toronto with American rock band Modest Mouse.
Osborne said the choir’s performances are becoming recognized not only by people in classical music but in pop music too.
She said she couldn’t have asked for a better experience for herself and her students.
“We’ve been lucky to been afforded different opportunities with different bands locally, especially in the past year and a half or so,” she said.