Spring 2024

CVA’s Own Carnegie Hall Choir

by Annamarie Lyman 

In 2023, the Central Valley Academy Chamber Choir, joined by twelve Chamber Singers, went to New York City to participate in the WorldStrides Festival. The group initially went to receive comments only. After performing, though, Mr. Bunce was approached by one of the judges who urged him to reconsider. The choir was awarded gold in their size category, and was invited to perform at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. 

After accepting the invitation, Mr. Bunce went straight to planning. He had to arrange a hotel, travel, and food with the company that was putting the whole festival together. He also spent hours putting together a Google Classroom with all of the information needed and tracks for the singers to practice with. He also made a rehearsal schedule, which entailed lunch rehearsal once a week from December until the spring musical was over. The rehearsals would then move to later at night until the group would depart for the city in April. 

At 6:30 AM on April 12th, the Central Valley Academy Carnegie Hall Choir took off. Their first stop was at the hotel they would be staying at right in midtown Manhattan. They’d get a few hours to shop, and then they’d be in rehearsal for about three hours before going to see Hadestown! Many students said it was the best show they’d ever seen. 

The next morning, they got ready for the longest rehearsal they’d have. It would be five hours, with an hour-long lunch break. Their adventure for the night would include traveling to the top of Rockefeller Center, which was 70 floors high. It was a bit of a late night for our singers. On average, the group ran on 5 hours of sleep (or less) each night. Yikes.

On the day of the performance, the choir, which consisted of only seven schools from seven different states, had a brief rehearsal. They also got another opportunity to go out and grab some food before getting ready to be bussed over to Carnegie Hall. They had a quick sound check before going up several flights of stairs to a waiting room. A few groups performed, and then it was time for the choir to show off their hard work! They were able to sit and watch the rest of the performance from the audience once they were done.
The next morning was the earliest yet. The choir got up around 5 AM to go to a security check in order and stood outside “The Today Show!” They were asked to sing, and even got to meet Al Roker briefly. Then they got on the NYS Thruway to go home, and once off were welcomed with a police escort all the way back to CVA! Great work, and a way to make us proud!