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A Night at the OperaMary land cho i r t r ave t s t o New Yo rk C i t y f o r a g randpremie re

Last fall, shortly after being hired as leadvocal teacher at the new Barbara IngramSchool for the Arts in Hagerstown,Maryland, Kyle Weary received a for-warded message from a friend. It was acall to vocal groups around the world toapply for a performance spot in the con-cert premiere of lauded choral compos-er Eric Whitacre's new opera, ParadiseLost: Shadows andWings, at NewYork'sCarnegie Hall. "I sent in a recording ofmy students-grades 9- 1 2-in late Oc-tober,"Weary says. "At that point theyhad only been singing for a little overtwo months together. I wasn't sure ifthey'd be invited, but I thought itcouldn't hurt to send in the CD."

It certainly didn't; Weary soon gotan official invitation. For teacher andstudents alike, the prospect was both

66 Teach ing Mus ic I Oc tober 2010

thrilling and scary. Whitacre rras stillworking on the music, so they wouldonly be getting the score in bits andpieces. In the meantime, Weary had aBig Apple trip to plan. He did thislargely on his own, although the con-cert producer made some hotel sugges-tions. "We did have to raise fundsthroughout the year," he reports. Be-tween a singing Valentine fundraiser, aspaghetti dinner, and a benefit concert,"enough funds were raised so each stu-dent got a credit of g 150 offthe trip."

The week before the June 15, 2010,performance, four final pieces fromthe composer arrived, leaving studentsonly a couple of days to learn theirparts. Luckily, they were up to thechallenge. "Most of them were fresh-men, and they acted like true profes-

sionals,'Weary says. "I was so proud."Finally, 38 Ingram students, accom-

panied by 17 adults, climbed on a Man-hattan-bound charter bus for the finalphase of their operatic adventure. Theystayed in the city for four nights and fivedays, three of which were taken up byrehearsals. The students were just onepart ofa 425-piece choir, including peo-ple of all ages from three countries, butWeary recalls that "the first time theysang together, it sounded like thev hadbeen singing together their entire Lives."

The group did find time to visitsome famous New York sights, buttrumping all that was the experience ofperforming on the Carnegie stage-which none ofthe students had seen be-fore. "It was just arnazing," Weary says,"an incredible success." Mac Randall

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