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On stage of Carnegie Hall was a 'glorious' experience

Posted April 30, 2009 11:00 pm

Brian DeNeal

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Two Saline County teenagers had the recent rare fortune to sing at Carnegie Hall as part of the National Children's Choir.

Madeline Rogers, 12, Eldorado, and Kristin Doty, 13, Harrisburg, perform weekly with the Southern Illinois Children's Choir, a project of Southern Illinois University. Director Alice Berry learned of a project of Field Studies International and Heritage Education and Festivals to combine various children's choirs to perform at Carnegie Hall and submitted a recording.

Organizers accepted the young singers and April 19 they performed six songs to a full house. Stan Willis, former music teacher at Carrier Mills High School, is the assistant director of the Southern Illinois Children's Choir and accompanied the choir to New York.

"There were probably 10 different choirs across the nation put together at Carnegie Hall," Rogers said.

It was the first trip to New York City for both girls.

"I thought it was really neat. The buildings were the bigger than I've ever seen," Doty said.

Carnegie Hall was actually not as large as what the girls imagined. They described the scene of three rows of box seats and the sparkly decor as breathtaking.

The girls performed in a choir of 317 children made up of 10 choirs. They performed six songs: "Alleluia from Cantata 142" by J.S. Bach, "Gloria" by Vivaldi, "Adoramus Te" by David Hicken, "Sesere eeye" a traditional song from the Torres Strait Islands, "Chile Con Carne" by Adners Edenroth and "Amavolovolo" by Rudolf Debeer.

The large choir rehearsed together a total of nine hours different days in a ballroom under the direction of conductor Henry Leck. The singers were about age 9 up to teenagers.

Unfortunately for the girls' mothers, Lucinda Rogers and Julianne Doty, no pictures or recordings were allowed in Carnegie Hall except for the official recording that is being released on DVD.

"We were not allowed to record or take pictures and it was difficult not to take pictures," Lucinda said.

When it came time to perform, the girls were ready.

"It was kind of natural, not intimidating with a bunch of people right up with you," Doty said.

"It wasn't intimidating to me just with all the other voices. It was glorious," Rogers said.

The girls had the chance to tour New York City, visiting the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, Times Square and the Empire State Building.

"I don't think I want to live there, but I'd like to go back," Rogers said.

Rogers' only regret is her father, Keith Rogers, could not make the trip with her family. He serves in the military and is currently stationed in Afghanistan.

The girls and their parents encourage others to look into the Southern Illinois Children's Choir at the Web site www.siu.edu/~music/cpp/sicc.html

They hope, with enough interest, a satellite children's choir might be able to operate out of Southeastern Illinois College.

While the girls take voice lessons, singing in a choir teaches them how to sing in harmony with others.

"You need to learn to make your voice blend with all the other voices," Rogers said.

The girls have only a few years left before they are too old to sing in the choir. Rogers hopes after that she has an opportunity to provide piano accompaniment to the choir. Her little sister, Lydia, is singing with the youngest children. Rogers' dream is to attend the Julliard School of music in New York City.

Doty said while she has a great interest in science and math, she also hopes to continue singing as part of her schooling or career.

Lucinda Rogers gives much thanks to the churches, businesses, civic organizations and individuals that contributed donations to the families' traveling expenses. The girls performed at several churches and businesses and received generous contributions toward the trip.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.

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