POULSBO — Months of planning will crescendo to forte for North Kitsap High School’s choir students at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time Sunday.
That’s when 45 vocally inclined Vikings will sing at one of the premiere classical venues in the United States — Carnegie Hall. The hall, located in midtown Manhattan, was built by 19th century philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1890 and has been impressing people both on stage and in the audience ever since.
This week, NKHS students have been taking in the complete cultural experience that is New York City. But anticipation of performing on one of the most recognizable stages in music has been building for much longer.
The North Kitsap Herald caught up with a few members of the choir Wednesday before they took off on a red eye flight.
“There’s no better thing to complete your tour of New York than singing at Carnegie Hall,” NK student Sarah Stevens said.
“It’s the epitome for a performer,” choir mate Emery Tallon said.
“It’s where everyone wants to go sometime in their career,” Matt Forbes added.
NK choir director Sylvia Cauter and massive amounts of planning and fund raising from both students and parents have made the experience possible for NK performers over the past couple of years. Cauter took a group of more than 90 students to New York for the first time 1999 and another cadre of about 50 in 2003.
This year, 45 students and 13 adult chaperones are on the cross-country choral adventure. The opportunity was open to all, Cauter said, but it came with a $1,500 price tag and a few additional expenses.
“All the money I have for my prom dress is going to New York,” choir member Kristen DeBoer said.
But the overall experience — culturally and chorally — should be well worth it, she added.
North’s students will be split into small groups and sight-seeing throughout the Big Apple during the off-time of their five-day trip.
Over the course of the weekend, the NK choir members will also be fusing with students from several other choirs from different parts of the country. The fusion will be combining efforts to perform two foreign language pieces — Antonín Dvorák’s “Te Deum” and César Franck’s “Psalm 150.”
That entire choir had a four-hour rehearsal at the hall Friday and will have another four-hour rehearsal today, plus a dress rehearsal Sunday.
“What I really like is for the kids to meet other people from the United States and to sing with them in this setting, under the direction of a professional conductor,” Cauter said. “It’s really a combination … they are experiencing the city as well as having a high quality musical experience and singing at one of the most famous halls in the world.”
“The hardest part, for me, is that (the songs) are in two different languages,” DeBoer said.
“Te Deum” is a late-1800s Latin piece from Dvorak, a Czech composer. While NK students should be familiar with the Latin lyrics, Cauter said, the songs rhythmic structure is quite challenging.
As for “Psalm 150,” she added, learning and singing in French has been difficult.
