The Big Noise Youth Choir performs at the Prince Albert Music Festival (pamusicfestival/Facebook)

By Derek Craddock

MAKING A BIG NOISE

Members of P.A. youth choir chosen to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall

Dec 15, 2023 | 6:00 AM

Some talented youngsters will make their way to the Big Apple soon after being invited to a massive choral performance.

About nine singers auditioned and were selected to attend to take part in a performance at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in June. Eight of those singers will be making the trip. The singers are part of the Big Noise Youth Choir, which is comprised of members of the Broadway North Youth Company.

Choir Director Lauren Lohneis said the choir started coming together after the performances of “Beauty & The Beast Jr.” in 2022.

“I shoulder tapped a handful of the older kids and I said, ‘do you want to make a choir just for music festival and we’ll rehearse a few times, we’ll perform at festival in March and that will kind of be it.”

Aside from performing at the Prince Albert Music Festival, the choir was also recommended to a provincial competition, which they succeeded in.

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“I’m in my 16th year of teaching and I’ve had choirs go to provincials often but we’ve never placed at provincials and so Big Noise Youth Choir this year won their class at provincials.”

From there, Lohneis said she received an email inviting the choir to participate in a Western Canadian music festival, which was a big experience for the singers.

After that, the Director of Greystone Singers at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Jennifer Lang invited Lohneis to audition for the Carnegie Hall choir and orchestra. Lohneis, who is an alumnus of the Greystone Singers and a part of Aurora Voce, inquired about whether her students could audition as well.

The Carnegie Hall choir was initially offered to current members of the Greystone Singers and Aurora Voce, and to round the numbers to over 100 singers, it was then opened to other participants through audition.

When she found out her students could audition, they took the opportunity.

“A bunch of us are going to New York together to sing in this big choir, and it’s going to be a 100-plus voice choir and a small orchestral ensemble,” she said.

The choir will do a three-day residency in Carnegie Mall starting May 29 before the big concert on June 1.

Thankfully, through the help of sponsors like the Optimist Club of Prince Albert, the members of the choir can go on the big trip. The Big Noise Youth Choir will be performing Winter Wonderland in Gateway Mall on Saturday from 2-3 p.m. as a way of saying thank you to the Optimists.

“A way of giving back to Optimist and being involved in their Winter Wonderland as a thank you for them believing in our kids and helping to sponsor some of their participation.”

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com