Volume 10 August 14, 2020
Chorister BiWeekly News & Updates!
Join us!
Enrollment is open!
Our start date for our 2020/2021 Season is September 14th!
Senior Chorister, Jennylet Cartagena
Chorus Angelicus 2019/2020 Virtual Choir Videos
Behind the Scenes
A Little History!
In March of 2014, Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus followed our “Pied Piper” Gabriel Löfvall, singing through New York City. We were the only youth choir invited to perform at the Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) for Defying Gravity: The Music of Eric Whitacre and Stephen Schwartz.  Grammy winning composer Eric Whitacre, conducted. We sang at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, and on Broadway, in addition to delis, cathedrals, and the subway! The experience was amazing for the choristers involved. I’m sure that this experience, among others with Chorus Angelicus was life changing and formative of who they are becoming as young adults. In every photo they are beaming!  It was a dream come true experience for any performer, and one that will remain with them forever. While we won’t have the opportunity this year to frolic about NYC, as artists and survivors we are CREATIVE! Brand-new opportunities and experiences await this year’s choristers!! In fact, keep reading below as our very own Junior Choir Director tells us about his experience with Eric Whitacre’s most recent virtual choir!!
“Making my debut at Lincoln Center when I’m only 15 is something that blows my mind! I bonded with the Seniors more than I thought was possible and it’s easy for me to say I love every single one of them! This weekend was something that will stay with me for the rest of my life and I hope that I never forget a single detail.” Claire Ryan
“Meeting a famous composer is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We can’t stop talking about New York and all the fun we had. When it was time to leave, we wished we could have stayed for another week. We have made so many new memories and bonds with each other. I will never forget how much fun we had even though it rained the entire time we were there!” Anna King
“I don’t think Anna was even in high school yet. It certainly gave her bragging rights. When her high school choir started rehearsing some Whitacre songs, she would casually/not so casually mention that she rehearsed and performed with him in Lincoln Center.” Chris King

“Performing “Defying Gravity” was beyond my wildest dreams. Being 13 and singing the music of Eric Whitacre and Stephen Schwartz at Lincoln Center was an amazing experience!”
Grayson Shuck
Join The Virtual Choir!
A dear friend of mine in college participated in the very first Virtual Choir that Eric Whitacre produced. It was amazing to see, and I was jealous. How had I not known about it? I would have loved to be a part. That video with 185 singers had over one million views in its first two months. When the next one came around, I’d be ready. I didn’t want to miss out on being part of something so much bigger than myself.
Sure enough, ten years passed, and I had missed his next four Virtual Choirs. These projects had become bigger and better, and even more of a global phenomenon. When the next one came around, I’d be ready. 
One day this spring, amidst quarantine and online teaching, I was sharing some virtual choir videos from yesteryear with my students at school as part of a listening assignment. I went down the online rabbit hole and found myself on a website that read “Virtual Choir 6” at the top. It was a complete accident. I had stumbled across the very thing I had been longing after for ten years, and I was just in time. The submissions were due in less than a week. I reviewed the piece, learned my part, and spent a long time (hours) trying to make a decent recording to submit. I passed the opportunity along to all of my students. The piece was easy enough, and I had always wished someone told me when these things were going on.
After a few more months, the finished product was released. 17,572 singers from 129 countries participated. With those numbers, seeing myself was never going to be possible, but I was glad to know that I played my part, however small. One of my students worked hard to make a submission too, and made it just in time. It has over a million views in just one month. Our names are in the credits!
There’s been a lot of philosophical talk about the good and bad of using virtual choirs as a tool during this pandemic. I’m for them, and always will be. Anything that lets students make music together is a good thing. And it’s not just a crutch in times when we can’t be together. Participating in a virtual choir gives choristers a unique opportunity to be both performer and audience at the same time. This is impossible when performing live music, and teaches some valuable lessons. Chorus Angelicus will be continuing to employ virtual techniques to allow our choristers to make music this fall, and I couldn’t be more excited. Our virtual choirs will last a lifetime, not unlike our memories of these strange times. 
Don’t miss out on making beautiful art just because we can’t be together. Be part of something bigger than yourself.
 
Come and join us, raise a song;
Make a joyful noise.
There’s nothing quite so beautiful
As singing girls and boys.
 
 
Andrew W. Skinner, Junior Choir Director
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Letter From Gabriel

Hello, Chorus Angelicus friends,

As I spend a few days up in gorgeous Acadia, Maine, enjoying nature and good food, I have been thinking about the crazy realities that this 2020 is challenging us with. No matter how one looks at it, the answer lies in embracing the challenge with creativity and a fresh sense of adaptability. Let’s keep working with this creative spin to tackle the new season. We can still make lots of things happen, even though, on the surface, it’s looking difficult for choirs to meet in person and craft the product that we were used to.

So, we will soon be unveiling the rehearsal and show calendar for the next season. We will stay in the virtual world for the time being, as that seems the most judicious and safe thing to do. We will still have an Investiture concert (we are looking at Saturday, October 17 in the evening, and an all-encompassing Christmas Angelicus that would now involve all the choirs of our organization, in addition to our long-standing narrator, and guest performances. The advantage of working at the remote level is that we can now bring in many more options to the menu: we can reach out to alumni, musicians, and various fellow artists and easily collaborate with them. The same holds true for our rehearsal space, where we have already welcomed wonderful friends of Chorus Angelicus.

Stay tuned for the rehearsal calendar as it comes out soon, and make sure you keep those Mondays and Thursdays open for us. Commitment will still be key to produce the virtual sound that is now our best ally. We take pride in having quickly adapted to the new reality of this pandemic scenario, having promptly produced three virtual performances and being about to present the fourth one. That is quite an amazing feat for a small organization like ours. And we do have to thank our multitalented Andrew Skinner for being the wiz behind the scenes! 

We will keep an open mind about the Spring. We will continue to monitor what other artistic entities are doing and what the official guidelines recommend. Assuming, things can slowly go back to normal, the spring will finally see the premiere of the American Cantata and all choirs singing their hearts out with our legendary Missa Gaia. But only time will tell!
And last, but certainly not least, I would like to make a strong appeal to Senior Choristers and families to brainstorm names for prospective choristers. The senior choir is the most affected by this reality. We are seeing many singers go, due to graduation, and because there are no move-ups or auditions this season, we will not be able to replenish our ranks. Our only available method is word-of-mouth recruitment. Please, help me keep the senior choir strong! 

That’s all for now, folks! In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying what the summer still has to offer, which is manifold and rich. And remember: wear those masks to show that you care! And wash your hands often, of course.
With love,

Gabriel
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Paul Butcher
August 3, 1978 to April 24, 2012
Paul Butcher Memorial Scholarship Fund

Consider making a donation to the Butcher Memorial Scholarship Fund. The objective is to provide every interested and financially eligible family with a scholarship sufficient enough to enable their child to participate in our programs. The present economic climate has intensified current and prospective families' need for scholarship support and, as such, there has been greater pressure on our scholarship program. This was a cause dear to Paul's heart.