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U.S. choirs will be presented at International Choral Fest For Peace this weekend
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The International Choral Fest For Peace will bring multicultural choirs from the U.S., Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica to promote peace as a tool for global understanding. Three shows will be held. The first will be today 7 p.m. at the Catholic church Nuestra Señora de la Soledad* in San Jose's downtown at Avenue 2A and 11th street. The second show will be Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Catholic church Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados*, in the town of Desamparados Centro. The special closing presentation will be Sunday at 7 p.m. in the church of Viña del Este* in San Rafael de Montes de Oca. " Music as the universal language promotes peace to the human spirit. It is music that can harmoniously intertwine feelings of humans, who come from different backgrounds, cultures, realities and even opposing thoughts," said the Choral Fest organization on its statement. "United by the irrepressible desire to move towards a better world, we want to fill Costa Rican auditoriums with this creative expression of mankind strong enough to break down boundaries and differences". The International Choirs that will be in the presentations are: - Nashville Children's Choir that functions in cooperation with Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The choir performs frequently with groups such as The Nashville Opera, The Nashville Symphony and recording artists Joe Diffie, Reba McEntire, Michael W. Smith, and Jennifer Nettles. The group has traveled to sing in San Antonio, Toronto, New York City, Boston, San Francisco, the New Orleans Jazz Festival and the Piccolo Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. The choir has been selected numerous times to appear on the nationally televised and acclaimed Christmas at Belmont broadcast on PBS - Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir since 1982, has offered exceptional music and choral training to hundreds of boys and girls from schools throughout the San Francisco East Bay Area. - Chattanooga Boys Choir remains the oldest boys choir in the southeastern United States since its foundation in 1954. The music performance and education organization include over 100 boys in five ensembles, representing over 40 schools from across the Chattanooga region. The choir has performed in 20 countries across five continents. In 2013, it was the first American children’s choir invited by the Cuban Ministry of Culture to perform in Cuba in nearly half a century. The choir's numerous performances including from schools to conferences of the National Association for State Arts Agencies, the Symposium on the History of Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association. The choir is a cultural partner of the Tennessee Arts Commission and Arts Build of Greater Chattanooga. - Signal Hill Alumni Choir of Trinidad & Tobago was founded in 1984. The choir is now deemed a cultural institution and icon of Trinidad & Tobago. The group performs in the folk style, with a variety of repertoire as well as genres. They sing and perform Caribbean folk, world music, African folk, gospel, reggae, Christmas, Calypso, and soca. The group has appeared before many world dignitaries including Queen Elizabeth II and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. It has performed in many international festivals around the world. The last one was the Idaho International Choral Festival in 2017. Recently the choir performed at the U.N. Assembly Hall in New York, and late in 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. Also present will be presented famous directors such as Madeline Bridges, who is associate dean in the Belmont University School of Music. She oversees the academic progress of the School of Music’s 700 music majors. She is a writer and guest conductor and was recently awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Tennessee division of the American Choral Directors Association. James Wells, director of choral music ministries at Brentwood United Methodist Church, also is expected to attend. He oversees all the music and arts activities for students and personally directs the choirs for grades two through high school. 500 students actively participate in choirs at Brentwood each week. Wells studied with Bridges while attending both Middle Tennessee State University and Belmont University. In recent years, he has traveled extensively, teaching and conducting children’s choirs for organizations, churches, and school festivals. Josh Wright, who also is scheduled to attend, has been a music specialist in metro Nashville schools for 16 years and with the Nashville Children's Choir since 2007. He received his master's in music education at Belmont University. In 2016, he was honored as a music teacher of excellence by the Country Music Association. Erick Tuan, who also is attending, is a California native, conductor, singer, collaborative keyboardist, and composer. He currently serves as artistic director of the chamber chorus Convivium, director of music at Christ Church Los Altos, and as faculty member with the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir. Widely commissioned as a choral composer, his award-winning works have been performed throughout North America and Europe. Tuan holds an master's in music from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor's in music from Stanford University. John Arnold, also an attendee, is the founder and musical director of the Signal Hill Alumni Choir. Graduated from Berklee College of Music, Boston, he has been the main force behind many of the events initiated by the Division of Tourism and Transportation, Tobago House of Assembly. These include the Tobago Jazz Festival, Tobago Muhtadi International Drumming Festival, Tobago Gospel Festival, Tobago Jazz Experience, and many other signature events in Tobago. He has toured all over the world as ambassadors of Trinidad & Tobago’s great culture. He is also the leader of Tobago’s only jazz ensemble, the Kariwak Players. Vincent Oakes, another attendee, graduated from the University of Florida and earned his master's of sacred music degree in choral conducting from Emory University. A frequent choral clinician and guest conductor, his recent conducting engagements include the Tennessee All-State Treble Chorus, the Florida ACDA Men’s Honor Chorus, the Alabama Young Voices Festival Boychoir, the Instituto Piaget Vocalizze Festival in Lisbon, the Bangkok International Choral Festival and the International Conductors Exchange Program in Havana, Cuba. A member of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association, he served as Southern Division chair of Boychoir Repertoire and Standards for the association from 2005 to 2011, as association president in Tennessee from 2013 to 2015 and is currently the president-elect of the national association's Southern Region. Oakes holds the Glenn Ireland Chair for Distinguished Teaching as director of choral Music at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, where he conducts four student choirs and faculty choir. Timothy Sharpeeuu also is scheduled to attend. He is an active choral conductor, researcher, and writer. Prior to being the executive director of the American Choral Directors Association, Sharp has been dean of fine arts at Rhodes College of Memphis, Tennessee, and director of choral activities at Belmont University. He is the author of books related to the ensemble arts, and he is now completing his book “Teaching Music Through Performance of European, British and American Sacred Music.” At present, he represents the choral activity in the United States to the International Federation for Choral Music. Also is the artistic director and conductor of the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus, Tulsa, Oklahoma for the 10th year. More information on the locations where the choirs will be presented can be reached by calling 2274-3231 or at the Choral Fest website here.* ---------------- Have you seen any to those choirs or directors performance shows in the U.S. or another country? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com |
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