On March 12th, Premier Choir had the joy of performing in the Harvard Class of 1959 chapel. The space was quite unique; not an ordinary chapel by any stretch of the imagination. It's cylindrical shape allowed for incredible acoustics and the greyscale interior decorating contrasted nicely with our fabulous red uniforms. The event was apart of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative. The topic of the weekend was basic education and what role higher education can play in improving basic education and providing everyone with equal opportunities. In some schools the budget for music education and performing arts programs is being cut because of financial issues. I believe that music education is a fundamental part of education and should be included in the basic education that everyone recieves because it can help foster analytical thinking, creativity, communication, leadership and teamwork skills, so it was interesting to see how that related to the purpose of Harvard's think tank. Preceding our performance, Hubie Jones gave an introduction explaining the creation and mission of the Boston Children's Chorus and how it relates to education. We then sang a few pieces, notably Como Tu, Suscepit Israel, and Plant a Tree, all of which were well recieved by the audience. After the performance, some singers took the opportunity to attend a very interesting forum hosted by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School, titled "Crossing the Lines: Closing the Gaps in Education" with panelists Ron Ferguson, Charito Kruvant, Andreas Schleicher, Ruth Simmons, and Lea Ybarra.
- Casey Accardi
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