Thursday, April 7th, members of our very own choir left for their New York performance at Carnegie Hall. 28 students traveled to New York for their performance on Sunday, April 10th, and returned Monday. I spoke with 10th grade choral student, Nathan Smith, to get further information on the trip.

The choir was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall after their win at Nationals last year in Nashville. Nathan Smith a sophomore, said, “We could either [go to Carnegie] or go to Austria, but that was too expensive.” He said that this trip to New York costs about $3,000 per student so we can imagine how much the trip to Austria would have cost.

Due to the high expense, not many of the choir students were able to go. I asked Nathan if there were any kids that didn’t want to go, because there always seems to be that one kid who was forced into something and doesn’t want to participate in things.

“I don’t know if they don’t want to go, but they just can’t because it’s still, like, $3000.” The trip to New York is definitely an expensive trip, so it can be understood why a lot of students were unable to attend.

Bob Jones Senior and Choir President, Leah Boyd, performed a solo within a song that was sung by the entire chorus and spoke about the trip and choir as a whole. “The chorus trip to sing in Carnegie Hall was so amazing. Not only did we get to observe world class musicians singing at the Met and on Broadway, we also got a chance to perform, in the most iconic and prestigious concert hall in the USA.”

Leah loves participating in our school’s chorus stating that chorus “provides a fun and creative outlet for people to express their emotions and make music.” It’s something where a group of people “forms a close community” that continuously works together to make “something beautiful and meaningful.”

I was unable to speak with the Choir Director, Mr. Fields, to get more information on the trip, but I can imagine that he was beyond excited to be going to Carnegie with the students for this rare opportunity.

The talents of the Bob Jones Choir are becoming regulars at locations like Carnegie Hall because this is definitely not the first time the chorus has been invited to perform in New York.

No matter the cost of the trip or how many times they’ve gone, it truly is an honor for our students to have this sort of experience. Hopefully, it is something they will always treasure and remember.