1-14-2023 4:03am

Boyertown Show Choir To Perform at Carnegie Hall Festival Honoring Martin Luther King Day

Lesley Misko Editor

Photo courtesy of BASH Choirs.

Boyertown Area Senior High (BASH) Show Choir will take the stage at New York City’s world-renowned Carnegie Hall tomorrow, Jan. 15, when they perform in an invitation- only high school music festival titled, “Way Over Beulah Lan’.”

Planned to honor Martin Luther King Day, the event will focus on African American spirituals, and showcase the talents of six to seven handpicked high school choir groups, along with the Mansfield University and Mansfield Alumni choirs.

Three chartered buses filled with family, friends, and community members will make the trip to support the BASH performers. While the choir students will rehearse throughout the day, the group’s fans will have free time in the city until the evening concert.

“Our choirs have always had a tradition of performing in some of the top venues in the world and I wanted to continue that tradition,” shares Mr. Jeffrey K. Brunner, BASH Director of Choirs. This will be the third time in BASH history that the Show Choir performs at Carnegie, which Brunner describes as “the top concert hall in the country.”

Explaining the day’s program, Brunner shares, “Each group has 15 minutes to perform three selections and there were no restrictions on the song choices except for one: each choir must sing one piece composed by Stacey V. Gibbs.”

To fulfill this requirement, Boyertown will sing an African American spiritual called “Hold On.” According to several music publishers, “This arrangement confirms why his [Gibbs’] arrangements are so popular: the rhythms and harmonies are fun to sing and he builds things up to a rousing finish. This arrangement reminds us to ‘keep your hand on the plow as you climb higher and higher… just hold on.’”

Gibbs, who will serve as instructor and guest conductor for the event, is from Detroit, Michigan, and is perhaps best known for his arrangements of spirituals that seem to give new depth to those well-known songs. Gibbs was selected to conduct by Peggy Dettwiler, artistic director for the event and Director of Choral Activities at Mansfield University.

The highlight of the concert is likely to be the conclusion when all the groups are on stage together to sing the concert title piece, “Way Over Beulah Lan’,” which was composed by Gibbs.

Brunner is excited that his students have this unique opportunity. “It forces us to step up our game and gives us an advanced experience,” he says. “I am proud of how far they have come and hard they work. They understand the significance of this experience. I think they are going to do us really proud,” Brunner concludes.

BASH Show Choir is Boyertown’s premiere group, comprised of 45 students in grades 10- 12; an annual audition is required and the number of students is limited.

The bus and dinner costs for students are being partially underwritten from the proceeds of the group’s fundraising.