Campanella Receives Young Singers Foundation Grant

Campanella Choir took part in last year's Festival of Gold

The Campanella Children's Choir received a $500 grant from the Young Singers Foundation.

The grant will be used to help the choir attend this year's Festival of Gold. The annual event brings together choirs from all over United States. Each choir gets one-on-one coaching and advice from renowned adjudicators and conductors. The choirs also get to perform at some of the most prestigious venues in the country. You can read about our experience at last year's festival here.

The Young SingersFoundation is a non-profit organization that works to help kids and teenagers participate in music programs. They believe that music is a vital part of education, allowing them to develop creativity, increase their self-worth and learn self-discipline and teamwork. They set up grants and a scholarship to give the talented kids opportunities to get musical education they would otherwise never get. Every year, hundreds of organizations from all across United States applied, but we're among the lucky ones to get it. We are proud and honored to be able to say that. 

While the grant will go a long way toward helping us attend the Festival of Gold, it won't cover everything. Join Young Singers Foundation in supporting Campanella's journey to the festival. If you are interested in donating to us – or if you know someone who might be able to donate to us – please don't hesitate to contact us.

Campanella Children’s Choir Brings Music, Poetry to Nortbrook Library

Campanella choristers sing at the Northbrook Library

There wasn’t a free seat in the house as Campanella Children’s Choir, the Chicago Trio and guitarist Mikhail Sytchev got ready for an Evening of Music and Poetry.

 

For poems, we drew upon the classical tradition as well, using poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and William Wordsworth. In a slightly more contemporary touch, we used Morning by Leonid Aronzon as a final poem.

Guitarist Mikhai Sytchev

Some pieces were performed entirely by the Chicago Trio (guitarist Natalya Chernysh, cellist Irene Schweizer and piaonist Diana Kofman). Sytchev performed some pieces solo. Some of the pieces featured individual choir members performing solo, while others had the choir perform together. And for some songs, all of the musicians and singers at the concert joined together to perform something beautiful.

The Chicago Trio

It was the notion of joining together that inspired Campanella Choir Artistic Director Marianna Kosaya and art historian Tanya Ilina to out together a concert that featured both music and poetry. Kosaya explained that poetry and music are intrinsically intertwined, informing and inspiring each other. Together, they could lead to something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.  

Parisian Salon Concert Series founder Didier Lapauw introduced Campanella Choir

The concert was part of the Parisian Salon Concerts series, which runs monthly at the Nortbrook Library. The series was founded by Didier Lepauw, a former first violinist at the Paris Symphony. Lepauw wanted to put together a concert series that took inspiration from the salons of old and showcased talented musicians from across Chicago area. The Campanella Choir was honored to be a part of it.

And, by the looks of things, the audience enjoyed it, too. There were so many people attending that some of them had to stand. And when the concert ended, the entire room erupted in thunderous applause.

Our Evening of Music and Poetry was a great event, and we have many more in store. Please visit our Facebook page to follow the latest information about our upcoming events.

Pushkin's Fairy Tales Concert (With Music By Rimsky-Korsakov) Celebrates the Power of Timeliness Stories

On December 20, the St. Giles Episcopal Church was transformed into a fairytale kingdom as Campanella Children's Choir's younger choristers performed to the music based on fairy tales written by acclaimed Russian poet and writer Alexander Pushkin.

Campanella Choir performs at Puskin's Fairy Tales concert

Pushkin is widely regarded as one of Russia's greatest poets and one of the founders of Russian literature. A writer since the age of 15, he wrote hundreds of poems and novels. Most Russian children grew up hearing their parents read Pushkin's fairy tales. But the distinguished author remains unknown to many Americans.

With the Puskin's Fairy Tales concert, Campanella Children's Choir set out to bring the beauty Pushkin's verse and share it with the community.

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.”