Campanella Children's Choir perform at Carnegie Hall
On June 7-10, Campanella Children's Choir traveled to New York City to participate in the 2019 National Children's Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall.
Participants were selected through a very competitive formal application process and invited to experience this opportunity of a lifetime.
2019 National Children's Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall was arranged by Manhattan Concert Productions and brought several choirs from across the country for its "Turn the World Around" program with the goal of singing as a whole and spreading messages of hope, unity and positivity through music. The "Turn the World Around" was a festival that brought these choirs together, showing that despite the differences, they could still all work together to make something beautiful.
Campanella participants had extensive group rehearsals with internationally known conductors; learned to collaborate with other selected choirs and then performed at the Carnegie Hall. This performance showcased the visiting ensembles' work on a national stage and in the professionally printed Playbill.
For almost 20 years the Campanella Choir, lead by Artistic Director Marianna Kosaya, has helped regulate a busy intersection of cultural, ethnic, social and heritage torrents within a diverse community of Chicago suburbia. As the choir grew from a small group of singing toddlers to an award-winning choral ensemble, it became the core of Campanella Educational Center, with a main goal to help children find and develop their artistic individuality through music and teamwork.
As part of Campanella's "Unite Thru Music" program, students from diverse cultural backgrounds learn and grow together in a collaborative and stimulating creative environment. At Campanella, children perform songs in many languages - English, Russian, Spanish, French, Czech, Yiddish, Italian, German, Polish, African Bemba and Xhosa, and more - and from many cultures. It teaches them to understand, support, and accept each other's differences while working collaboratively as a team.
Campanella Concert Choir is a regular participant of National Heritage Festival since 2006. It has achieved the highest ranking at the Festival of Gold series in 2016, 2012, 2011 and 2010, won a Gold Medal in 2009 and 2008. In 2012, Campanella Children's choir made its Carnegie Hall debut as part of John Rutter's "Mass of the Children" performance.
"Coming back to perform at Carnegie Hall with a new team of young singers has been absolutely phenomenal," said Marianna Kosaya, Campanella Children's choir director. "Listening to children sing at joint rehearsals, I experienced extraordinary inspiration. Children from different places, racial and ethnic backgrounds, traditions and cultures, who have never seen each other before, opened their hearts to beautiful music, gave up parts of themselves and gave their voices to the general sound flow. The magic transferred itself to the concert. The inspirational light voices of young singers touched Carnegie Hall audience hearts and charged them with light and joy."
"Turn The World Around" Festival participants included:
• Maia Armstrong of Skokie, Old Orchard Junior High School, Skokie District 68
• George Barkidjija of River Forest, Roosevelt Middle School, River Forest District 90,
• Peter Gadjev of Northbrook, Countryside Day School, Northbrook
• Alexander Iordanov of Deerfield, Charles J. Caruso Middle School, Deerfield District 109
• Liora Kalinovskiy of Northbrook, Wood Oaks Middle School, Northbrook District 27
• Alice Kapmar of Northbrook, Wood Oaks Middle School, Northbrook District 27
• Safiya Kazlovich of Vernon Hills, Vernon Hills High School, Vernon Hills District 128
• Alexandra Kolodnikov of Buffalo Grove, Cooper Middle School, Buffalo Grove District 21
• Jenny Ogiela of Northbrook, Wescott Elementary, Glenview/Northbrook District 30
• Veronica Ruvinskiy of Wheeling, MacArthur Middle School, School District 23.
• Mia Shepel of Wilmette, Highcrest Middle School/ Elementary, Wilmette District 39
• Alex Svistchov of Glenview, Glenbrook South High School, Glenview District 225
For information visit www.campanellacenter.org.
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