Help Send Willsboro Students to Carnegie Hall

Student participants of the Ithaca College High School Gospel Choir Invitational. (Credit: Willsboro Music Dept.)

The Music Department at Willsboro Central School has some very exciting news to share; due to our participation in the Ithaca College High School Gospel Choir Invitational Festival, members of the Willsboro High School Chorus have been invited to participate in a choral festival and performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, February 27 through March 1, 2016!

Six student musicians will be selected to prepare music and travel to NYC to spend three days among 150 choral students from around the country for this special event. Former Ithaca Festival clinician, Dr. Keith Hampton from Chicago, will be at the podium leading students in a program of traditional gospel choir and classical repertoire for the big stage!

Peter and Patty Paine have graciously opened their home to us for our stay in the city. Not only will this offer a comfortable place to rest our heads after the long hours of rehearsal each day, it also saves a considerable amount per person off the cost of enrollment in this event. Our heartfelt thanks for such a generous gift!

While this is a great reduction in cost for us, the festival fee is still $599 per person, plus transportation, all meals and any extras like a classical recital, a visit to the Metropolitan Museum, and a tour of the renowned Julliard School of Music. We will need to raise approximately $1,200 per person for this trip and ask for your generous contributions to help give these students a once in a lifetime experience!

In addition to this very special event, all of our Willsboro music students have many opportunities to engage in special projects with world-class artists. We regularly participate in events like All-County Festivals, Area All-State, NYSSMA, Ithaca Gospel Festival, the Adirondack String Pulse Experience with Daisy Jopling (also filmed for PBS), regular school concerts, tours, workshops, master classes, presentations from the Seagle Music Colony, the Russian Duo, the Learning Arts Ensemble, the Essex Community Concert Series, Piano By Nature, and many more. We’re also proud to recognize Geordie Hearn as being Willsboro’s first student to major in piano and musical education at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. Your support has helped to make all of these things possible for our students!

Make a Donation

This is a school and community that value the arts. We understand that participation in arts activities (music, theater, visual arts, dance) encourages creativity, collaboration among peers and community building, all of which provide a solid foundation for life after WCS. Your donation to the Music Booster Club helps to support more than a single trip; it supports high quality cultural programming for all of our students at every level. Thank you!

To make a donation please make checks payable to “Music Booster Club.” Then mail your gift to:

Willsboro Central School
c/o Jennifer Moore
59 School Street
PO Box 180
Willsboro, NY 12996

Come Sing with the Chorus!

We’re also involved in a music education project with a member of the Crane School of Music faculty called, CCC: Curious, Collaborative, Creative that focuses on developing life-long participation in musical ensembles through community participation of student lead (though very closely facilitated) concert programming and preparation. We’re going to be inviting members of the community to come sing three selections with our high school chorus for this Winter’s concert.

We have combined weekly evening rehearsals with Zumba: 6:00-7:00 chorus practice followed by a Zumba class instructed by Diane White from 7:15-8:15 for a $5 fee, though any donations beyond that will go to the Music Booster Club. People can do one or the other (Zumba is the only thing that has a fee attached) or do both! We’ll plan to do these on Wednesday nights starting October 28. We’re calling the sessions, Sing Your Butt Off!.