Chantilly Choir - Amazing April!

 

Wow! What an April, 2011 it was for the Chantilly Choral Department and Chantilly Orchestra - a month marked by travel, competition, performing for and meeting celebrities, and performing at world-renowned centers for the Arts. Here's a recap of the whirlwind:

Orlandofest!

Chantilly Choir at Orlandofest The month started off with a bang, with Choir and Orchestra members competing at "Orlandofest" on April 2 (and squeezing in visits to Disney World and Universal Studios).

Taking part in the competition were The Chamber Chorale, Mass Choir, Magic Touch and Touch of Class - backed by the Chantilly Combo.


Their competition performance was a big success:

  • The Chantilly Chamber Chorale earned a "Superior" rating and was awarded a Gold Medal.
  • Touch of Class won a "Superior" rating and won a Silver Medal.
  • Magic Touch earned an "Excellent" rating and a Silver Medal.
  • Mass Choir won an "Excellent" rating and a Bronze Medal.

The Kennedy Center!

Touch of Class Meets Kevin Spacey After a long bus ride back home (ending about 1 a.m. Monday April 4), the Touch of Class students were right back in action that afternoon. While the rest of the Chantilly students were enjoying a day off for a teachers' workday, TOC headed into Washington to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - by request. TOC had been asked to perform at the start of the 24th annual Nancy Hanks Lecture, and perform they did, earning a rousing ovation from the Concert Hall audience for their versions of "Jump" and "Cinema Italiano." The lecture was given by Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey - and the TOC kids got to talk with him before the show! (click to watch video)

Constitution Hall!

Touch of Class performs at Constitution Hall Two big events down - and two to go. On Friday April 8 (after a long rehearsal the day before), TOC was back in D.C. for a performance at Constitution Hall. There, they joined Patrick Lundy and The Ministers of Music in singing "Hold Your Dream" at the opening of the Horatio Alger Awards. Emceed by Tom Selleck and Lou Dobbs, the event had celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and George Lucas in attendance. The TOC students got an extra dose of excitement when they got to meet Broadway and movie star Adam Pascal backstage after their song.

Kennedy Center, Round Two!

Chantilly Choir and Orchestra Perform at Opera House The string of big events concluded on April 12, with a return engagement at the Kennedy Center - this time at the Opera House, where the Mass Choir and The Chantilly Orchestra performed at the 10th annual Vital Voices Global Leadership awards. With such luminaries as Hillary Clinton, Sally Field, Cokie Roberts and Wolf Blitzer in attendance, the students performed "Walk On" in honor of Burma's pro-democracy activist Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to whom Vital Voices gave its "Global Trailblazer-Voice of the Decade" award in absentia. ("Walk On" was written as a tribute to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by Bono.)
Click the image to watch a video of the students' performance.

Four amazing performances over a breathtaking 12 days. Congratulations to all the Choral Students, the Show Choir students and the Orchestra students for being such enthusiastic and professional ambassadors of the Chantilly Choral Arts Department.