The choral department at Shanghai American School had an amazing experience when the choir performed “The Choral Music of Eric Whitacre” at the prestigious Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City on the evening of June 28, 2009.One might ask “Who is Eric Whitacre?”  Eric Whitacre is considered now to be one of the top choral composers of our generation.  His music has an unearthly quality to it with close-knit harmonies that produce transcendent moments, often electrifying.  As a choral conductor, I am a huge fan of Eric Whitacre’s composition so when I heard about this concert, I decided to send an audition tape of my APAC Choir to see if we could get some choristers into the residency with the Distinguished Concerts Series at Lincoln Center (DCINY).

We had some amazing singers participate in this concert:  Kailin Fu, Angela Chang, Michelle Chak, Jasmine Buenning, Yvonne Hsiao, Leo Chang, George Jian and myself.  We began intensive rehearsals on the weekend and after school to learn and memorize an hour-long program.  It was a satisfying experience for me personally because I sang with my students.   I kept telling them that to memorize all the music is easy if you put your mind to it, (even though there were so many songs including a set of songs called Animal Crackers, Volume 2, commissioned for this concert that was sent out a month before the concert.)  As a conductor, it is a different musical experience to conduct than to be on the other end of the baton.  We all had to group together and know our parts.   In addition, we had to get fitted for our concert dress, which was designed by Michelle Chak.

So how did we get to New York?  Can you believe that every single member of our choir had their families come to New York to attend this concert?  I was so impressed with the families who brought family members in from other parts of the States.  Jessica Buenning, the former lead of our first musical, Pippin, even came to see our concert.  I even have to say that my mother took a day off from work as a personal homecare worker in Canada to come and attend this concert for the weekend.

We met for our last rehearsal together at Ripley Grier Studios in New York City.  These studios are world famous rehearsal and dance spaces in New York.  We needed to rehearse because Eric Whitacre decided to add changes to his newly composed piece in the last week before the concert.  After this rehearsal, I had to go to a Director’s meeting where I would meet the staff and other conductors from the following choirs selected for this concert.  The program was split into two parts where the first half was a treble choir and the second half was the SATB choir: Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts (Pennsylvania), Litchfield County Children’s Senior Choir (Connecticut), Lone Star Youth Chorale (Texas), Southern California Children’s Concert Chorus and Ensemble Singers (California), Wausau Conservatory of Music’s Choralation (Wisconsin), Washington State University Concert Choir (Washington), Waukesha North High School Concert Choir (Wisconsin), and York College Concert Choir (Nebraska).

At our first rehearsal at Kaplan Penthouse, we were introduced to the enigmatic Eric Whitacre who turned out to be a down to earth man who shared his philosophy with us.  He told us how he happened upon choral music.  Originally, he was a punk rock musician who accompanied his friend to a choir rehearsal and got hooked.  I could not believe it that here was this 80’s rocker who fell in love with the choral arts.  His style was very warm, making the five-hour rehearsal pass by very quickly.

The next day, DCINY called the choirs to be on The Morning Show.  We with our families in our Shanghai American School polos were at CBS studios at 7am.   The Morning Show is a nationally televised program in the United States which airs every morning.  On this day, they opened the program with us because we had our secret weapon — George Jian’s (choir member) cute little sister, Victoria, whom we put in front of our group holding our sign.  After the program, we walked through Central Park to our next rehearsal at the Good Shepherd Church.  Charles Anthony Silvestri, the poet of many of Eric Whitacre’s works discussed his writing process with us including his insights into the famous work called Sleep.   Rehearsal was very intense and Leo Chang and Kailin Fu were selected to play instrumental parts on Cloudburst.

Our big day, the day of the concert, we met at Avery Fisher Hall, for our dress rehearsal that included learning how to walk on and off stage, where to stand and last minute changes to music.  Our concert was well attended with more than 1,000 people in the audience.  Eric Whitacre charmed the audience with his endearing manner and the choir sounded fantastic.

Needless to say, the trip was a once in a lifetime learning experience. Said one student, “I learned to take myself into a new level of professionalism. When you’re onstage for over an hour, you realize that you’re going to make mistakes. At that point, it’s all about not thinking too much about it and instead maintaining your focus and intensity.”

There is no city like New York, and while we may have arrived a bit jet lagged, its atmosphere soon intoxicated us. It is a city bigger than life, from fearless street performers to giant M&M advertisement LCD screens. Even the rehearsal locations left lasting impressions on the choristers. The Kaplan penthouse at the Julliard School was bright and spacious, while the Good Shepherd Church’s stone walls resonated with a certain hollowness and grandeur. Both places, though, couldn’t top Avery Fisher Hall itself, home of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It all culminated there, on stage with two hundred singers, Eric Whitacre, and perfect harmony.