Music to Lift the Spirit

The power of music to bring people together was on terrific display Sunday night when the budding artists of the Music Academy’s Sing! Chorus — comprised of hundreds of Santa Barbara County youth — took the stage to perform alongside Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC) and the YPC National ensemble Concinamus.

The joint concert, held at the Marjorie Luke Theatre on July 28, was the culmination of a six-day immersive experience for the young choristers, who shared a weeklong residency with the nationally renowned group. Throughout the residency at Music Academy of the West, conductors, teachers, and children ages 8-18 from across the country worked with MacArthur award-winner, founder and artistic director of YPC Francisco J. Núñez and YPC Creative Director Elizabeth Núñez, as well as YPC artistic faculty and renowned composer Yuka C. Honda.

Honda’s composition, “Rabbit on the Moon,” also had its world premiere performance by the YPC that evening. Also on the program was a Chumash Welcome Song and a reading by Barbareno Chumash Elder and Historian Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, who noted that Santa Barbara Junior High School, where the theater is located, is also her alma mater, but it “didn’t look like this back in those days. I thought I was in heaven when I walked into their rehearsal,” she commented, noting the beautifully renovated theater.

The reading was the lead-in to a diverse program that not only included the world premiere, but spanned classical masterpieces and contemporary arrangements.

The repertoire at the Luke featured a YPC performance of a medley by Leonard Bernstein songs, and pieces by Engelbert Humperdinck (which featured a super cute pair of kids as Hansel and Gretel), Nick Page, Wayland Rogers, Beethoven, and by Francisco J. Núñez himself, among others. The African American Spiritual “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel” was a particular standout for the YPC.

The young Sing! performers, ages 8-18, also did several numbers, including a moving version of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird.” And the entire group came together, inviting the audience to sing along, for “Love is Love is Love is Love” by Abbie Betinis.

Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC) is a multicultural youth chorus internationally renowned for its superb virtuosity, brilliant showmanship, and innovative model of diversity. This was their third residency with the Music Academy’s Sing! Chorus (read my story about last year’s experience here). For more information about YPC, see ypcnational.org. ypc.org.  For more information about Music Academy and Sing! — the Music Academy of the West’s free, after-school children’s chorus run by Artistic Director Erin McKibben — see musicacademy.org/sing.