All Choir Spring Concert, "An Afternoon at the Theater!"

On May 30th, all nine of BCC's choirs participated in the season's final concert where the musical genre of choice was showtunes! Highlights included Treble Choir's rendition of, "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie, DHII and Lyric singing, "Pick a Little/Goodnight Ladies" from The Music Man, and YME/PC singing, "The Color Purple". A favorite moment was when the audience joined BCC in singing, "Make Them Hear You" from Ragtime, which BCC singers were sure to teach their parents at home prior to the concert. Fun was had by all!

BCC toasts Annette Rubin!

On Tuesday, May 26th, BCC held a farewell celebration for BCC's Executive Director, Annette Rubin. A farwell video made for her was shown at the event, check it out below!

DHII/Lyric Choir performance with the Nashoba Youth Orchestra!

On May 15th, BCC's intermediate choirs, Dorchester House II and Lyric, performed with Westford-based Nashoba Youth Orchestra in North Chelmsford. This was an extra special performance because the fabulous Ray Daniels, BCC's Manager of Programs and Recruitment, additionally conducts the Premier Orchestra of NYO, which DHII and Lyric had the pleasure of working with. Together, the groups performed son Faure's "Pie Jesu", Saint Thomas Aquinas' "Panis Angelicus", and Bach's "Bist Du Bei Mir". This performance was thrilling for the DHII and Lyric singers because for most of them, it was their first opportunity to sing with full orchestra. The singers gave gusto-filled performance and thuroughly enjoyed working with the NYO musicians.

Premier Choir performance with the Cantata Singers!

Premier Choir performed with the Cantata Singers at Jordan Hall on May 8th. For background information, check out this post! Below is a video of Anthony Trecek-King conducting BCC and the Cantata Singers Ensemble in Benjamin Britten's "Psalm 150".

CC Tours to Connecticut!

BCC's Concert Choir (CC) toured to Connecticut May 2nd and 3rd. To catch up with the group, BCC blogger, Casey Accardi, conducted a Q&A session with them following their trip.

Blog: So I understand you had to leave pretty early in the morning for tour?
CC: Yeah we had to be at BCC central by 7:15 am which was not easy! We almost had to leave without Clare but she just made it in time. Needless to say, our bus ride to Connecticut was pretty quiet because we were still sleepy. But Francesca made cookies which was a nice morning treat! Mr. Tk has a strict no singing on the bus rule although there was some mysterious singing coming from the back of the bus...

Blog: Well as long as Mr. Tk doesn't hear it, it's okay! Where did you arrive in Connecticut?
CC: After two hours of relaxing on the bus, we reached the Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, Connecticut. The school was really nice! It felt more like a miniature college campus than a school. The chorus students were really welcoming. We started off by playing an ice-breaker game with them which was fun and then settled into rehearsal.

Blog: What did you rehearse?
CC: We sang about 12 songs from our own repertoire and then did a number of combined pieces with the Kingswood-Oxford singers. One favorite was "We Are Together", a song originally sung by the Agape Children's Choir, thats really enjoyable and powerful to sing. During the rehearsal, we mostly practiced the combined pieces so that all singers could be on the same page. At one point, Francesca had a clumsy moment and fell off the risers -- she was totally fine, it was pretty funny!

Blog: Sounds great! I hope you guys stopped to have lunch...?
CC: Oh yes don't worry, we did! They had a great cafeteria at Kingswood-Oxford. We had a nice selection of burritos, cookies, and chips to eat. During lunch, we got to sit with the K-O singers and get to know them which was awesome. They told us that in early April, they went on tour to Chicago and got to work with our friends the Chicago Children's Choir -- small world, isn't it?!

Blog: Small world indeed! So how was the actual concert?
CC: The concert with the K-O singers was great! They're a really good choir, it was awesome to exchange songs with them. The performance space was large but felt cozy -- it was ideal. The audience was sizeable and quite enthusiastic. Its safe to say fun was had by all. It was one of our best concerts of the year.

Blog: Super! How were your homestays?
Homestays were so much fun! We were intentionally partnered with people from CC that we didn't know very well, which was excellent because we made great friends with each other. Additionally, we got to know K-O singers and their families more personally -- everyone was so nice! We really appreciated them for welcoming us into their homes.

Blog: How lovely! How was your sunday?
Sunday was an action packed day! We got up bright and early and had farewell breakfast with our host families. Then we headed to Center Church Hartford to perform at their 9:00 am service. They have a great music ministry there, it was wonderful working with them. After the service, we grabbed lunch and then got back on the bus to go home. On the way, we watched Finding Nemo... such a great movie. Overall, our whirlwind tour of Connecticut was a fantastic experience!