Chapel Hill High School Choir Performs at Radio City, Carnegie Hall

 

Last month, choir students at Chapel Hill High School made a trip to New York to perform at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall — along with the Rockettes and Eric Whitacre.

Chapel Hill High School Director of Choirs John Benton said students were invited to perform at Radio City Music Hall as a part of their “Sounds of the Season” program.

“You’re given five minutes on stage prior to opening up for the Rockettes in their Christmas Spectacular,” Benton said. “They did really well.”

Benton said the group began preparing for the performance in late August once school began. He added they were the only choir from North Carolina, which allowed them to meet and perform with singers from across the country.

“The bright spot for that was we got to perform with the New York City Children’s Chorus as well,” Benton said. “They’ve got a phenomenal choir, and it was a Carnegie Hall premiere of one of Eric Whitacre’s pieces entitled “The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Clause” based on the Ogden Nash poem.” 

Benton said because of the large scale of their performance, the group had to come up with unique ways to practice for the show. 

“It was so brand new — we had to be very creative in our rehearsal schedule, and rehearsing during lunch and make effective use of our time,” Benton said. 

11th grade choir student Analise Ambrozic said she was grateful for the opportunity to travel to New York City with her peers and teacher.

“Just being with all of your friends and having all these people who care so much for you… you just walk around and have fun,” Ambrozic said. “You know that you’re performing later that day, but it doesn’t matter, because you’re at Shake Shack eating a burger or you’re walking through Times Square — it was a lot of fun.”

Fellow 11th grader Peyton Battle, who also sang at the choir, said this was the first “big trip” she’d been on without her parents, which she said made her feel more independent. 

Battle noted when it was time to perform, the size of the crowd initially scared her. However, she said once she got on stage, her fears went away. 

“It was like being with a big family, so it wasn’t that bad.”

Ambrozic agreed, noting both music halls had an intimidating feel. However, she said the experience was one she won’t soon forget, describing the opportunity as “surreal.” 

“There’s so many people, and it’s just you guys singing these amazing songs,” Ambrozic said. “You’re up there with 100 other singers. You’re up there just singing songs you spent two and a half days preparing with all of them.”

 

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