Friday, March 28, 2014

Campanella Children’s Choir attends Heritage Festival of Gold

Campanella Children's Choir Performs at Festival of Gold
On March 14-28, the Campanella Children’s Choir had the privilege of attending the 2014 San Francisco Heritage Festival of Gold.

The choir has attended the festival before, but it was still honored to be invited. It got a chance to perform at the prestigious Davies Symphony Hall and work with renowned conductors and adjudicators. Overall, the festival has been a good experience for students and instructors alike.

The Festival of Gold is part of the Worldstrides Heritage Performance Program. The program was created 35 years ago to enrich the lives of students though musical performance. Every year, the program looks at hundreds of choirs to take part in the Festival of Gold, choosing a few that fit its standards. Here's how the program's website describes those standards.

“Acceptance into the Festival of Gold program is reserved for groups who've achieved a Gold rating at a WorldStrides Heritage Performance standard festival, Superior rating at a state contest, or by audition.”

This year, chosen choirs did a series of performances that culminated in the Encore Concert at the San Francisco's prestigious Davies Symphony Hall. Campanella artistic director Marianna Kosaya was very impressed with how the performance turned out.

“I would like to congratulate all Campanella choristers for a very good performance at Davies Symphony Hall,” she said. “It was not easy for such young children and such a small group to perform in this temple of music, but they faced the challenge head on.”

Campanella choir members also chance to have one-on-one time with renowned conductors Christopher Aspaas, Elena Sharkova and adjudicator Tim Sharp. They provided valuable feedback that should help the choir continue to reach new heights of quality.

Aspaas praised Campanella's excellent intonation and energy, and its ability to handle the a very challenging repertoire. Sharp praised the energy, the tuning, the tone and the intonation of the choir's performance. He congratulated soloists Abby Froyshteter on her performance and applauded Campanella on its repertoire selections.

Sharkova praised the choir's performance of "Ave verum," "Balulalow" and "Wolcum yole," describing it as very clear, energetic and sweet. She said that she always enjoys Campanella's performances - they always stun everybody and it is such outstanding work. She said that Campanella's choir director gives its community huge gift.

Overall, the Festival of Gold has been a great experience for Campanella.

“We enjoyed every minute in this tour and especially the music part of this trip,” said Kosaya. “The choir directors Elena Sharkova and Christopher Aspaas did great professional and inspirational work. It was such a great opportunity to work with them in this festival.”