Fox Valley Festival Chorus to make Carnegie Hall debut

Submitted by Fox Valley Festival Chorus

Members of the Fox Valley Festival Chorus will be performing at Carnegie Hall on Memorial Day. One year ago, Naperville resident and Mary Beth McCarthy, director of the chorus, received a formal invitation to perform John Rutter’s Requiem under the direction of Rutter himself. Even McCarthy will have the opportunity to step aside from her traditional role of conducting the chorus and sing as a member of the chorus.

The group will join seven other groups from throughout the country and the New England Symphonic Ensemble on Monday, May 27, on the Perelman Stage in the Isaac Stern Auditorium for the 8 p.m. concert.

In preparation for the concert, the chorus starting rehearsing last September, in addition to presenting two local performances in April. Once they arrive in New York City, the singers will rehearse for three days in order to be ready for their big Carnegie Hall debut.

When they are not rehearsing, members will have the opportunity to attend Broadway plays and tour the city. But once they return to Illinois, they will be putting the finishing touches on the aptly named spring pops concert, “From Broadway to the Big Screen,” which will feature Broadway show tunes that started out as stage musicals and ended up as movies.

The spring concert will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 9, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 10 N. Edgelawn, Aurora. Tickets will be available at the door for $12, $10 for ages 65 and older, and $5 for ages 12 and under. A special patron ticket with program listing and priority seating is available for $20.

Additional information about the chorus or the concerts is available at www.foxvalleyfc.org or foxvalleyfc@gmail.com.