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Photo Credit: Getty Images and BCC.
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"I HAVE A DREAM..."
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [wo]men are created equal."
Forty Central Intermediate Advanced Choir singers, led by Director of Choirs Michele Adams, traveled to Washington, D.C. this month for a musical festival. This trip not only provided a national performance opportunity, but a national history lesson. The value of the trip for the singers was to learn about the past and see themselves in the future - a future where all people are treated equally and respectfully. These lessons are learned not only on stage but in a busy airport, on a bus while tired from a long day or in a shared hotel room with other singers you do not know that well (yet). Many of these singers were traveling for the first time without their parents. Their experience of independence with supportive friends, singing music they love, was life-changing.
April showers bring May flowers but it also brought an opportunity for our young singers to experience, once again, the power of music.
Thank you to all who support our work and our mission. Our singers' lives are forever changed and we are grateful.
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BCC HIGHLIGHTS
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BOSTON CHILDREN'S
MUSEUM PERFORMANCE
BCC'S Choral Union and Jr. Men's Ensemble sang twice at the Boston Children's Museum on April 9, 2016. It was a great opportunity for these two groups a chance to perform together and individually as they prepare for this year's
Season Finale concert at the Stand Theater on May 22. Both groups showed great poise performing for many families at the museum. It was impressive to see the friendships and bonding that took place in between performances. These two choirs truly exemplify the BCC mission.
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BESSIE TARTT WILSON INITIATIVE FOR CHILDREN
On April 6, 2016, Concert Choir performed for guests of
the Bessie Tartt Wilson Initiative for Children Spring Soiree including President and CEO, Marie St. Fleur. C
o-Hosts William Kennedy (Partner, Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLP. Attorneys At Law) and James Rooney (President of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce), honored two long-time champions for early education and care: the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation and the Mabel Louise Riley Foundation.
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WEST END HOUSE TRAINING CHOIR EXCHANGE
The Harvard Ed Portal in Allston hosted our 3rd WEH exchange with the Boston String Academy (BSA). Both BCC and BSA have been recipients of a grant from the Harvard Allston Partnership Fund, which supports neighborhood improvement projects, cultural enrichment, and educational programming in North Allston-Brighton. This year we were happy that Youth and Family Enrichment Services from Hyde Park joined us for the exchange. YOFES provides music and educational programs to the Haitian community.
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BCC AUDITIONS FOR NEXT YEAR!
BCC has a choir for everyone! There are many choirs for singers of all ages and all levels including no prior singing experience. The BCC "audition" helps our conductors evaluate the right choir for singers.
Auditions take place at local schools and our South End Office May 5, 6, & 7 and June 13, 14, & 15.
Click here for more information or to sign up. |
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Photo provided by Peace Island Institute. WGBH Executive Producer Jillian Orr gives BCC's Celeste Wilson and Ben Hires the Peace Island Institute Community Award.
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BCC RECEIVES PEACE ISLANDS INSTITUTE AWARD
The Peace Islands Institute is a not-for-profit peace building organization established in 2011, founded by Turkish-Americans. The organization promotes respect and mutual understanding among diverse faiths and cultures by organizing educational and cultural activities. Their mission aims to contribute to improving diversity, pluralism and multiculturalism in society.
On April 14, 2016, BCC Managing Director Celeste Wilson and Director of Programs Ben Hires accepted the Community Award for BCC's role in working toward a more harmonious society and reducing bias through its nationally recognized, socially integrated choral music program.
Click here to read more.
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MY TRIP TO WASHINGTON, D.C.
BY KRISTEN SANTILLAN
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On April 8-10, 2016 my choir, Central Intermediate Advanced (CIA), and I traveled off to Washington, D.C. by plane to participate in the annual "3 Trebles Festival" with the Children's Chorus of Washington and the Princeton Girlchoir. I have to say that traveling by an airplane gave CIA a head start on our social goal. I feel because we traveled by plane, it got all of us excited, which in a way led us to open ourselves up a bit with one another. The purpose of this trip was to connect with one another, not just through our passion for music, but socially. I think that we did an excellent job in achieving the purpose of this trip. Artistically I feel that we all played our own part in putting the energy in practicing the songs. This helped us stay focused, on task, and most of all grow, artistically. For the social part, all of us laughed, talked, sang, and joked around with one another, from the day we were at the airport, to the final day when we got together with the other two chorus groups to the day that we returned to Boston.
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Matthew and Hannah Cole at Mont-Royal Park in Montreal.
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BONDING AND PERSONAL GROWTH IN MONTREAL
BY HANNAH COLE
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Concert Choir's trip to Montreal over April vacation was a great social and musical experience for me. Being on tour was a unique experience because it allowed me to become closer with everyone in the choir. For most of the year I have tended to socialize most with the people who I know best: people who sit near me during rehearsal. In Montreal, however, there were plenty of long bus rides, long walks, and laser tag games that allowed me to get to know people that were still unfamiliar to me. Throughout the trip, I bonded with so many different people over so many things, from swapping riddles and jokes to participating in impromptu "Hamilton" sing-alongs. As a result, this trip allowed me to more completely understand what a great community we have in Concert Choir. I realized that I am so lucky to be surrounded by a group of such kind, talented people. If it weren't for our shared interest in singing, I never would have been able to make so many friends.
Click here to read more about Hannah's trip and see photos from Lawrence and Montreal.
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: AMBER-NICOLE RODRIGUEZ
AN UNSTOPPABLE POET
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Reflections on being a BCC alum are always bittersweet. As acclimated as I've become to life "without" the organization, it is still difficult to listen to certain songs, even visit particular venues, without being caught in a tangle of memories and emotions. I suppose being an "Ambassador of Harmony" isn't something that you just forget.
BCC instilled in me the value of inspiring social change, something that has stuck with me long after graduating. I am now two years into my college career at the University of Massachusetts Boston where I major in Women's and Gender Studies and minor in English.
Throughout my transition from high school to college, I did not have a consistent medium of expression. But as the semesters progressed, critical conversations about racial disparity, gender equity, and intersectionality began to happen on campus. It was then that I saw an opportunity to use the voice BCC had helped me discover! Many of my courses emphasized the importance of the "silenced voices" and the "untold stories," and I found myself leading workshops on cultural competence, allyship, even activism. Luckily, these were dialogues that BCC had already encouraged me to participate in.
Click here to read more about Amber's story representing UMass Boston at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational at University of Texas at Austin and see pictures from her trip.
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DR. ROSEPHANYE POWELL INSPIRES BCC!
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From March 30 to April 2, BCC was inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of Conductor-in-Residence Dr. Rosephanye Powell from Alabama's Auburn University. BCC singers remarked that, "Working with Dr. Powell was uplifting and fun, but a lot of hard work." The Premier Choir and Young Men's Ensemble learned and performed Dr. Powell's music, which is steeped in the African-American musical tradition.
Dr. Powell wrote, "What a wonderful privilege it was for me to serve as a guest conductor for BCC! This four-day experience - filled with intense musical creativity, song development, poetic interpretation, shared life experiences and beautiful singing - could not have been more fulfilling." We cannot wait to work with Dr. Powell again.
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(L-R) BCC Managing Director Celeste Wilson, Dr. Powell, and BCC supporter Pamela Kunkemueller, who sponsored Dr. Powell's residency.
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BCC singers and Dr. Dunn-Powell after their spectacular concert at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
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Photo by Saydi Shumway Photography
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FOUR GREAT REASONS TO DONATE NOW TO BCC
Including some words from our BCC Alumni
With our June 30th year-end upon us, we are inspired to share reasons for you to make a gift to support  Boston Children's Chorus, so that BCC can continue to thrive as a place where community, inclusion, joy and a love of singing come together in pursuit of the highest ideals of a just and equitable society.
1. TUITION ASSISTANCE: Your gift supports our promise that no singer is ever turned away for inability to
 pay. Four out of five singers receive partial or full tuition assistance. We provide over $250,000 in tuition assistance each year, and tuition fees at the highest level of our sliding scale only cover one-third the cost of singer education and performance opportunities each year.
2. ARTISTRY AND PERSONAL GROWTH: Your gift supports our deep commitment to choral training at the
highest level of artistic quality paired with experiences that instill in our singers self-confidence, empathy, and joy of collaboration, as well as a spirit of world citizenry. BCC Choirs travel nationally each year and internationally approximately every other year: transformative experiences that bring to our singers life skills and a deep awareness of global concerns.
3. VISITING ARTISTS: Your support will allow us to continue our Visiting Artist program in the 2016-2017
 Choral Season. This year, two extraordinary guest artists expanded our singers' social justice education and choral experience: Jane Sapp, the inspiring educator, civil rights activist, and cultural worker; and Dr. Rosephanye Powell, the acclaimed choral composer and conductor. Their time with us was made possible in part by contributions from members of our BCC community, including a generous gift from Pamela Kunkemueller.
4. HARMONY IN BOSTON AND BEYOND: Your gift to BCC is a gift in support of harmony and social
 justice, across the neighborhoods of Boston and our surrounding communities, and wherever our singers go. BCC singers from 100 zip codes in the Greater Boston area form deep relationships with fellow choir members from a broad range of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Our choirs unite Boston's diverse communities in a celebration of shared humanity and love of music.
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OUROBOROS OPERA TRILOGY
PRE-SALE NOW FOR BEST SEATS!
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Three of BCC's choirs will perform in the world premiere of the Ouroboros Trilogy. Ouroboros is a three-part exploration of life, death and rebirth, as symbolized by the ancient Greek icon of a serpent eating its own tail. The trilogy, produced by Beth Morrison Projects and The Friends of Madame White Snake, will be presented in Boston in September of 2016, both as individual operas and as seven-hour, full-day events. The production will bring together an acclaimed artistic team, including conductors Carolyn Kuan, Julian Wachner, and Lan Shui, and composers Zhou Long, Paola Prestini, and Scott Wheeler. Many extraordinary Boston music institutions such as The New England Conservatory of Music, ArtsEmerson, The Boston Children's Museum and the Celebrity Series of Boston are participating in the project.
BCC Choirs
Naga: Central Intermediate Advanced
Madame White Snake: Premier Choir
Gilgamesh: Concert Choir
Friends and Family get early access to the best seats in the house through discounted packages to all three operas in the Trilogy,
with a special two-week pre-sale on Ouroboros Trilogy tickets beginning NOW and ending May 9. Single tickets go on sale June 1. See members of the BCC featured in all performances!
Use special code
TRILOGY to get your tickets now.
| Three Grand Operas |
Watch the Ouroboros Trilogy trailer.
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Cerise Jacobs, creator and librettist
Michael Counts, director and production designer
Beth Morrison Projects, creative producer
Naga
was co-commissioned by Friends of Madame White Snake and Boston Lyric Opera
Madame White Snake
was co-commissioned by Opera Boston and Beijing Music Festival. 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Music.
Gilgamesh
was commissioned by Friends of Madame White Snake
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April 30 at 1:30pm
First Parish Dorchester Advanced Training and Intermediate Choirs
Free for families
April 5
Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership
Tufts University
Premier Choir and the Young Men's Ensemble
Private Event
April 5 at 6:00pm
William James College Gala (Formerly Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology) Gala
Across Cultures and Beyond Borders: Turning Conversation into Action
Boston Park Plaza Hotel
Central Intermediate
May 14 at 3:00pm
RAW TRUTH encore performance at Rockport Music
Rockport Music's Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport
Premier Choir and the Young Men's Ensemble
$15 | Purchase
online or at 978-546-7396
May 22 at 2:00pm
A May Bouquet: BCC's Season Finale Concert
Strand Theatre, Dorchester
All 13 BCC Choirs
May 26 at 7:00pm
Express Yourself: Illuminate 2016
Citi Performing Arts Center - Wang Theatre
Annual event features 150 Express Yourself youth and many special guests including BCC's
Concert Choir and Choral Union
Free for families
June 10
Boston Public Library Gala
Boston Public Library in Copley Square
BCC celebrates the grand renovation and reopening
Private Event
June 20 at 7:30pm
BCC YME performance with the LA Children's Chorus YME
Paine Hall at Harvard University (Time TBC)
Young Men's Ensemble
Free for families
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Boston Children's Chorus 112 Shawmut Avenue, Boston MA 02118 (617) 778-2242
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Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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