We had the opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall in the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage! It all started in Spring of 2022. We were invited to be a part of this fabulous event. The idea was to gather as many choristers from BC choirs and beyond and sing Missa Brevis at Carnegie Hall in June of 2023. The choir would need be around 130 strong.  We’d even have an orchestra to accompany us!  We were ready to take on the challenge.  Rehearsals began in early January  2022 for Missa Brevis in C minor by Imant Raminsh. There were 13 of us from Sage Sound Singers who were quite excited about a road trip in 2023 – especially to NYC and Carnegie Hall! The rest of the choir was composed of people from Kamloops, Prince George, Kelowna, Ashcroft, Cache Creek and beyond. There were even a few from Ontario and India, giving us a grand total of 69 singers. We also had a name for our “new” choir. We were now collectively the “Raminsh Choir”. At the end of May 2022 we had most of Missa Brevis under our belts, so we took a long break, resuming rehearsals again in January 2023. This is where it got grueling. We were practicing two to three days per week from January to June, rotating between Kamloops and Ashcroft. We were told we needed at least 100 singers and we only had 69, so we joined forces with a choir from Arizona USA. They would perform our Missa Brevis with us, and we would perform their  “Lion Teeth Suite” by Anders Edenroth with them. We finally had the magic number of over 100 choristers. Opening night came on June 27th, 7:00 PM at Carnegie Hall. It was exhilarating to be standing on a stage so many famous people had performed on. The hall was almost to capacity, the orchestra warmed up, and the conductor on his platform. I can’t describe how we all felt at that moment, but it was a culmination of hard work, LOTS of practice, and the determination to do this.  It went well and we got a standing ovation (and asked to return in 2025!) We all will look back at this with fond memories and the knowledge that “We did it!”

Our conductors were Cvetozar Vutev, and Ryan Holder. They are fourth and fifth from the right in the poster below.

What a thrill to see that it was for REAL!