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News Highlights 2006-2007
Choristers lend their voices to "Hostile Gospel, Pt. 1" on Talib Kweli's new album, Ear Drum
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Talib Kweli began his career in the '90s as a member of the duo Black Star with Mos Def, whom he met while a theater student at NYU. Highly regarded for his socio-political lyrics, Kweli has collaborated with some of the greatest artists in the entertainment industry today, including Mos Def, Hi-Tek, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige and Anthony Hamilton. BYC backs Elton John at his 60th Birthday Concert at MSG
Click on these links from the Birthday concert: BYC Featured in Video on EltonJohn.com (scroll down to BYC video) A night to remember for the birthday boy - full story on EltonJohn.com Photos from rehearsal and concert BYC performs at United Nations, New York Ethical Culture SocietyThe night following their performance at Madison Square Garden with Elton John, the Chorus shifted gears to 20th century classical music, performing Benjamin Britten’s Voices for Today with the New York Virtuoso Singers in a program entitled Voices for Peace at the New York Ethical Culture Society. The program also included the world premiere of Voices of Power and Protest, Thea Musgrave’s new work for adult choir in which three BYCA choristers performed as “orphans.” The Chorus reprised the program in a private event at the United Nations on March 28. BYC sings in first-ever live performance of Lou Reed's Berlin
Read the online Rolling Stone review back to topBYC Live and "On Screen" at George Washington's Mt. Vernon Estate
Read more about Mt. Vernon and its new Education Center View Photos from the Theater and Opening . back to top“Wonderful” Beginning to Our 15th Season with More to ComeOur Fifth Consecutive Season with the New York Philharmonic
The critics praised BYC’s performance:
This live performance will be broadcast on The New York Philharmonic This Week on WQXR and other stations in November. Click here for broadcast details. BYC with Broadway, Cabaret and Concert Legend Barbara CookOn November 18th the Chorus appeared with Broadway legend Barbara Cook in Carnegie Hall Presents -- Barbara Cook—No One is Alone. This was Ms. Cook’s sixth solo concert at Carnegie Hall. She is noted for her definitive interpretations of works by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers and Harold Arlen, among others. Barbara Cook's Music Director, Eric Stern, thanked BYC with "gratitute and amazement," saying their participation in the finale number, "Make Our Garden Grow" from Bernstein's Candide, "had such an emotional impact on the audience, and on us." This concert was part of Carnegie Hall’s “One Night Only” series. Teachers Rate BYCA/NYU Summer Course “Top-Notch”
For the choral directors, voice teachers and music educators who gathered for the week-long course (held July 10-14), the Workshop’s specialized training in children’s vocal development and musicianship skills in a group setting was both welcome and unusual. Students described their experience as “invaluable,” “concise, relevant and immediately applicable,” “top-notch,” “exciting and unusual,” and “electric” and “comprehensive in design.” The course was an intensive introduction to the Cross-Choral Training(SM) method (or C-CT), as developed by Dianne Berkun and BYCA voice specialist Jeannette LoVetri for training BYCA students. Says Berkun, “C-CT helps singers learn to sing in the healthiest sounds possible in a wide variety of styles.” C-CT stands unique as a holistic approach to training vocal musicians to respond to the musical and expressive demands of diverse repertoire. It is both functional voice training, based upon voice science and health, and a comprehensive approach to teaching sight-reading and other musicianship skills. With members of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus in attendance for demonstrations and performances, participants were able to see first-hand how to apply the techniques learned in class, as well as take turns conducting the choristers themselves. “It would have been impossible to offer this kind of course without the hands-on component. In the end, I think the master classes were as instructive and useful for the chorus as they were for the NYU teacher-students,” reflects Berkun. The week included guest lectures on such topics as “Educational Philosophy” and “Vocal Health and Speech” and training in such specific areas as Voice Pedagogy, Score Analysis, Conducting and Musicianship. Also involved with the course were BYCA Voice Specialist Jeannette LoVetri, BYCA Associate Conductor and Principal Pianist Matthew Brady, esteemed Baroque opera conductor Rudolph Palmer and special guest educators: Dr. David Elliott (NYU Program in Music Education); Judith Clurman (Juilliard, Director of Choral Activities); and Dianna Heldman (NYU Program in Vocal Performance). 2005-2006 Concerts In Review
BYC’s annual repertoire is a combination of collaborative and individual works, traditional favorites and independent commissions. Of the many collaborative events in which BYC is invited to participate annually, each is an opportunity not only for performance but also for education. Students learn from the experience of rehearsing and performing with some of today's most acclaimed artists and conductors, and they gain awareness of their role as musicians who are specially suited—by virtue of their ages and vocal talents—to offer something unique back to the music. This spring, BYC participated in several collaborations with renowned ensemble partners, old and new. Our spring season began with Orff's Carmina Burana, with the Chorus accompanying the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Nicholasleichterdance at the inaugural performance of the orchestra's new music director, Michael Christie (February 25 at BAM.) The Chorus reprised the role in an April 6 appearance with the Juilliard Choral Union at Alice Tully Hall. In advance of the concert, Judith Clurman, director and conductor of the Choral Union, observed “BYCA encompasses such a variety of students of different ages. We’ve done several collaborations with BYCA, and this spring I’m looking forward to working with some of the younger students in Carmina Burana, and experiencing the different sounds they will bring to the music.” Marking our fourth consecutive season with the New York Philharmonic, BYC performed Bartok's dynamic re-setting of Hungarian folksongs, Six Children’s Choruses, as featured performers in the Orchestra's Young People's Concert™ on May 6 at Avery Fisher Hall. BYCA first collaborated with the New York Philharmonic in 2002 on the premiere of John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, for which both groups later won a GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Album. Theodore Wiprud, Director of Education for the New York Philharmonic, recently praised BYCA's work with the Orchestra: “We can’t do Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 or No. 8, or Britten’s War Requiem, or Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, or John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, or many other works without being able to count on a top-quality children’s chorus. Our ongoing relationship with Brooklyn Youth Chorus is important to our musical as well as our educational work.” Philharmonic Guest conductor Ludovic Morlot spoke fondly of his work with BYC writing, " The Chorus did a wonderful job on a very challenging set of songs... and what a beautiful energy and passion already! Making music with BYC is, unsurprisingly a great source of energy but also a very emotional experience. Every young chorister is sharing his/her passion for singing with such intensity. It truly is an inspiring opportunity to communicate with a hundred shining eyes." BYC took the spotlight in a second performance of Bartók's choruses -- sung a cappella -- in a featured performance at Carnegie Hall on May 12 to open The Collegiate Chorale's energetic program Berlioz and Bernstein: A Joyous Celebration. Later in the concert, the Chorus joined The Collegiate Chorale, The Canticum Novum Singers and The Orchestra of St. Lukes in Hector Berlioz’s revolutionary Te Deum.
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Talib Kweli's new album, Eardrum, recently debuted in the #2 spot on the Billboard 200, with 600,000 copies sold in the first week of release. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus sings backup vocals on the track Hostile Gospel, Pt. 1, of which
XXL Magazine writes, "On the choir-backed “Hostile Gospel”... he [Kweli] successfully laments society’s ills."
A week later, our choristers shed their choral robes and returned to Carnegie Hall as tie-dyed and flower-powered children of the '60's to rock with music legends Sting, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Lenny Kravitz and Sheryl Crow at The Rainforest Foundation Fund’s Benefit “Shades of Woodstock/ Songs from '68 and Summer of '69.” Choristers sang and danced-- onstage and in the aisles, sharing flowers with audience members-- in the evening's star-studded finale, The Age of Aquarius.