GFC MSU Choir performs “Music from Montana” in NYC’s Carnegie Hall
By Erin Granger
Great Falls College MSU News Service
NEW YORK – Carnegie Hall was filled Saturday with music that sang of bison, Lewis and Clark, and Big Sky Country.
The Great Falls College Community Choir held its debut performance in New York’s Carnegie Hall Saturday, after more than two years of fundraising and preparing for the trip.
The choir’s performance was titled “Music from Montana,” and all eight of the songs the choir sung were written by Montana composers and had never been performed in Carnegie Hall.
Singing in Carnegie Hall is an experience in itself, said choir member Allison McKnight, but singing songs that have never been sung in Carnegie Hall, makes the performance even more special.
“It gave us a little extra motivation to deliver it perfectly,” McKnight said. “I had to fight back tears.”
Eighty members of the Great Falls College Community Choir sang in Carnegie Hall Saturday. Many had family and friends in the audience.
The choir opened the Saturday afternoon concert that included two other sections. Those sections were performed by larger choirs that sang with the New England Symphonic Ensemble.
The trip was the brainchild of Cynthia Stevens, director of the Great Falls College Community Choir and department chair of Humanities and Fine Arts at Great Falls College MSU.
“Performing in Carnegie Hall is the ultimate performance destination for anybody in the United States,” Stevens said.
The list of past performers of Carnegie Hall is long and boasts the biggest names in classical music, along with other genres. Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones, Billie Holiday and many others have performed in the grand hall.
“We get to breathe that air today,” Stevens said before the performance. “We get to breathe the air of Carnegie Hall.”
The choir performed three songs by Chester composer Philip Aaberg. They sang “Someplace Safe,” written by Michael W. Gilboe, who is the Performing Arts Entrepreneur at The University of Great Falls. Gilboe was in the audience to see the performance.
“His Heart Sleeps” is a poem written by Charles M. Russell to describe one of his paintings. It was put to music by Norbert Rossi, who previously taught in Cut Bank. They sang “Lullaby for Jean Baptiste,” a song from a larger work titled “From the Journals of Lewis and Clark,” composed by Daniel Bukvich and commissioned by the Great Falls Symphony.
The choir closed its set with two songs by Blackfeet performer and storyteller Jack Gladstone, “When the Land Belonged to God” and “Buffalo Cafe.” Peter Wilson, a music educator in Highwood, arranged Gladstone’s songs for the choir.
Choir members described the experience as surreal, incredible and intimidating.
“It was unlike any other performance we’ve ever had,” said choir member Savannah Hill.
“Being able to perform in one of the greatest cities, it’s life changing, it’s amazing,” said Mackenzie Downard.
“It was a little intimidating just to look out and see everyone in the audience,” McKnight said.
Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium, in which the choir performed, seats 2,804 on five levels.
Of the choir members who made the trip, 51 had never been to New York City. Four had never been on an airplane.
The trip was the first time Joel Phillips had traveled east of Colorado and the first time he’d been on a plane.
“It was fun,” Phillips said of the plane ride. “I didn’t get sick or anything.”
As for the performance in Carnegie Hall?
“Oh man,” Phillips said. “It was amazing. The acoustics, the view of the audience, it was electric.”
In addition to performing in Carnegie Hall, the travelers got to take in the sites of the Big Apple. They visited Ground Zero and the 9-11 Memorial, toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art, saw a Broadway show and rode the subway.
Following the concert Saturday afternoon, the choir celebrated with a dinner cruise on the Hudson River.
The entire experience has been “pretty huge,” Phillips said.
“It’s hot and there are a lot of people,” he said. “I’m most definitely a country boy, but it’s amazing to visit.”
Sidebars:
Support the Great Falls College Community Choir
The Great Falls College Community Choir’s trip was sponsored by many generous donors.
“We are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support we’ve received,” said choir director Cynthia Stevens.
The choir will continue to fundraise when they return from New York. To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/gfctonyc or contact Cynthia Stevens at [email protected] or 406.771.2270. Or Lewis Card, executive director of development, communications and marketing, at 406.771.4412 or [email protected].
By the numbers:
80 – the number of Great Falls College MSU choir members who traveled to New York and sang in Carnegie Hall
8 – the number of songs they sung in Carnegie Hall
51 – the number of choir members who had never been to New York
4 – who had never been on an airplane
32 – who had never been on a subway
2,804 – the number of seats in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium
