Campanella Choir Alumni Stop By, Inspire Current Students

A couple of Campanella Choir alumni stopped by for a visit last Saturday during rehearsals.

The Campanella Choir is always happy to have our former students stop by for a visit. The alumni attended our regular rehearsals, and they sang a bit for the kids.

"It was a great experience," said Marianna Kosaya, Campanella's Artistic Director. "Our kids were listening to them sing, and they were enthralled."

Campanella Educational Center to Host Open House

As we gear up for an exciting 2014-2015 school year, Campanella Educational Center is going to host an open house on Saturday, August 23.

The Open House will give the parents a chance to talk to our instructors and ask them any questions they might have. It will also give children a chance to try out some of our programs, just to see if they'll like them.

Our sample programs will include our Children's Choir program, as well as our Art, Art History, and Russian Language classes.  Each class will last 15 - 20 minutes and will be organized between two age groups. The first age group will be made up of kids ages 4-6, and our second group would be made up of ages 7-12.

 The Open House will take place at St Giles Church (3025 Walters Avenue, Northbrook, IL). Everyone who is interested in our programs is welcome to attend, but ask you to RSVP as soon as posssible.

You can RSVP by e-mail, or call us at (847) 361-7989

We are planning a fruitful, academically rich year, and we hope that you would be part of it. We hope to see you at the open house.

Treble Choir Kids Lend Their Voices to a Worthwhile Cause

The Boston-Sderot Project logo

Nine kids from Campanella Children's Choir's Treble Choir took part in a charity concert that raised money for a children's summer camp in Sderot, Israel.

Located near the Gaza strip, the city of Sderot faces a number of economic challenges, and it has been a frequent target of rocket attacks. Since 2000, Boston's Russian-Jewish community has been raising money for the Boston-Sderot Project -  a ten-day program that would take kids out of the city for 10 days and give them a chance to relax and have fun.

To help fund the program, the Russian-Jewish community has been holding annual concerts for a number of years. This year, Chicago area's Russian-Jewish community has worked together to organize a concert of its own.

The Children Of Chicago to Children Of Sderot took place on April 6, at Northbrook Community Synagogue of Northbrook, Illinois. The concert was so well-attended that the synagogue parking was filled and guests had to park along the nearby streets.

The Treble Choir kids are grateful for the opportunity to take part in this event, and they were happy to lend their voices to such a worthwhile cause.

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.”

“MozArtiana” Masquerade event a success

Campanella members get into the spirit of Mozart with 18th century costumes

Campanella Children's Choir's “MozArtiana” Masquerade event entertained children and adults alike with music, games and 18^th century costumes. The event, which took place on Saturday, January 11, celebrated the life and works of famed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Over the past few months, the Campanella Educational Center and Campanella Choir have been focusing on Mozart's works and his contributions to the art as a whole. As a child prodigy, Mozart is an inspiration for any child trying to explore his or her talent. During his life, he created many beautiful pieces of music. Since his untimely passing, his work continued to delight listeners from all over the world – and his work continues to inspire artists and composers to this day.

The Campanella Choir members have been working hard for this concert, attending many rehearsals rain or shine. The concert was a culmination of months of hard work and preparation.

The concert was divided into two parts. During the first part, the choir performed arias, duets, trios from the "Magic Flute" - one of Mozart's most famous operas. Chicago Trio, Campanella Choir's long-time collaborators, provided music, while Tanya Ilina provided the visual accompaniments. The second part gave the kids a chance to move around and interact as they played games and danced.

To put our guests in the spirit of Mozart, Campanella Choir turned the concert into a masquerade. Children and guests were encouraged to wear 18th century costumes – or, at the very least, baroque style masks that would be perfectly at home at the sort of masquerade ball Mozart would attend.

The concert has been pretty well received. It even earned praise from Arts4Kids Foundation, a Vernon Hills based non-profit dedicated to supporting arts as a tool of growth and cultural enrichment.

“Wonderful production,” Leonard Mogul, the organization's founder and CEO, wrote on Campanella Children's Choir's Facebook page. “ On behalf of Arts4Kids Foundation, I would like to congratulate Marianna Kosaya, all of the participants, and all others who work hard to put this together”

The organization's official Facebook account joined in on the praise.

“It is an honor to support such events,” it said. “Introducing children to arts is what we do. And it would not be possible without such organizations as the Campanella Children's Choir.”