Boys & Girls Choir of Harlem Alumni Ensemble Join YMCA/WCNY Recording Project.
The Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem Alumni Ensemble will be performing on October 13th at Rome Free Academy at 7:00 PM. . Hank Leo, CEO of the YMCA of the Greater Tri-Valley, arranged for the Choir to come to Rome, NY to perform and record with the YMCA’s award winning Wind Ensemble, which is under the musical direction of Scott Rutledge and guest conductor Joel Martin, a world-renowned classical jazz pianist and writer. This will be the first performance, in a concert setting, for the Alumni Ensemble as well as the Ensemble’s first recording project. WCNY (Syracuse) is recording the concert in high definition and producing an original documentary of the project to be marketed and potentially broadcast nationwide. The Ensemble was created in February 2007 under the direction of Terry Wright (head choreographer, assistant director, and lead singer of the Boys Choir of Harlem). Through a program of education, counseling and performing arts, the Alumni Ensemble is an artistically driven organization dedicated to providing its audience with a broad-based entertainment experience. The Ensemble members, through their training with the Boys Choir of Harlem under the direction of the late Walter Turnbull, are honed to be disciplined, confident, motivated and successful performers, citizens and American ambassadors to the world The YMCA and the Ensemble will record three songs together, with the primary focus on a new recording entitled “There Is a Beacon In New York Harbor”, written by Roy Schryver. The three songs will be featured on the YMCA’s recording project “Collaborations” due out in 2008. The YMCA Center For the Creative Arts was founded in 2003, offering music instruction and performances. The program has won significant awards including the Gibson Guitar Award, one of only ten in the world to do so. Leo requested the assistance of Assemblywoman Roann Destito, who offered to join the project as Honorary Chair. Through meetings with PBS, the concert and YCCA project will be produced by PBS for a future documentary about the program and recording project. Leo and George Reyes (Alumni Association) are working together to bill “Harbor” as an anthem to be pitched to New York State. “The song is about hope for the future”, said Leo. “With the amazing Choir, we hope to showcase to everyone that by bringing people together, as music does, great messages can be communicated”. A second song, entitled “Let Him Soar”, will also be performed and recorded. The third song, “What A Wonderful World”, made famous by the legendary Louis Armstrong, will be recorded as well. The groups are brainstorming other ideas as well. The idea to include the Choir came from initial conversations between the YMCA and the Mid-York Library System. A meeting was held with Roberta Cavano, who was organizing a community-wide read of The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. The book’s theme is such that economies are becoming part of a large, global complex. Leo offered the suggestion of contacting the Choir and he and Reyes have been in communication since, working together on the project. “George has been a tremendous help to me, in a number of capacities. He is serving as a booking agent for the Choir and volunteer consultant on the project with the Y and helping us with creative thinking and putting wheels into motion to capture the moment for our cause”, said Leo. For ticket information please visit our website: www.ymcatrivalley.org, |
