The McLean-based World Children?s Choir recently returned from a 10-day performance tour throughout Ireland. The trip was dedicated to the many refugees that Ireland has taken into its country in recent years, and particularly to the child refugees. The trip was undertaken as part of the choir?s misson to be a voice for children worldwide and to celebrate cultural diversity through song.

Fifteen members of the choir, including the choir?s first associate international member - Mei Chern Lim of Penang, Malaysia - went on the trip that was led by the choir?s founder and director, Sondra Harnes, and the associate director and keyboard accompanist, James Selway. They were accompanied by a dozen parents and board members, one of whom, Dan Doxzen, served as the trip?s tour manager and performance coordinator.

(Ms. Harnes founded the choir 11 years ago, just after the Berlin Wall fell, as a way for children to build positive international relations and foster a peaceful world through music. Current and past choir members have come from more than 20 countries. The choir members, aged 8 to 18, are trained in the Italian 'Bel Canto' style of singing, which develops solo-quality voices. The World Children's Choir is on the Artist Roster of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has performed at the White House for various U.S. presidents; it has also performed for many foreign leaders, including Queen Noor of Jordan and former Russian President Gorbechev. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, on Capitol Hill, and on national and international television broadcasts.)

After having landing in Ireland early in the morning on Ireland?s first ever International Refugee Day, the choir went straight from the airport to perform for Ireland?s Foreign Minister at Iveagh House in Dublin. The choir?s performance was featured in a news story that was broadcast on television that afternoon and evening throughout Ireland.

The choir?s performance schedule proceeded at an ambitious pace seeing the choir perform later that same day at a refugee center. The choir performed every day thereafter until it departed Ireland on June 29th. The choir sang at such diverse venues as The Chapel at Trinity College, Dublin, arts festivals in Cork and Carlow, the Friary Church in Ennis, Galway Cathedral in Galway City, and at the historic gothic church of Kylemore Abbey in Connemara. The choir also gave an impromptu concert at the Waterford Glass Factory to thank the Waterford employees for having given the choir a complimentary tour of the factory and showrooms.

The choir?s repertoire was as diverse as the settings in which they performed. It included songs sung in Hebrew, Malaysian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Italian, as well as a number of Irish folk songs, some gospel, opera, Native American, and Broadway tunes.

Some songs featured soloists from among the choir's members, including 13-year old Mei Chern Lim, 8-year old Robin Hinson, and 16-year old Abby Brown. The choir also performed some very moving songs which were dedicated especially to refugees. Antonio Vivaldi?s "In Memoria Aeterna" which was dedicated to all refugees who have died and John Denver?s "Falling Leaves" which was representative of those refugees searching for hope and freedom today and the refugees of tomorrow.

The choir closed each concert with the choir?s theme song, "Together We Can Change the World", and featured audience participation. This very special piece was composed by the choir?s own associate artistic director, James Selway who accompanied the choir on piano. The words of the theme song express the dream which these children hold of ?a bright and new day . . . a world that we cherish . . . a wolrld of hope and promise.? The audiences also sang along with the choir?s rendition of "Do Re Mi" (from The Sound of Music), and they swayed, clapped and sang along to the Zulu song "Siyahamba".

The choir also found time to have some fun and see some of the wonderful sights of Ireland. One evening, the group attended the medieval feast at Knappogue Castle with its artistic directors as the Lord and Lady of the castle. No trip to Ireland would be complete without a tour of Blarney Castle, the Rock of Cashel, and a trip to the cliffs of Moher. The choir also found time to stroll through some of the many picturesque towns that dot the Irish countryside, as well as to walk on one of the many bogs for which Ireland is so renowned.

As Sondra Harnes, the choir?s director, explained, ?What really made this trip so special was the ability to touch the hearts of so many people with our music.? Indeed, everywhere they sang, the choir encountered appreciative listeners and won over many fans:

One elderly woman, upon hearing the choir?s rendition of "The Lark in the Clear Air", remarked, ?now, isn't that a little bit of heaven??

A rough-handed worker in Ennis, with a tear in his eye, said "Nothing like this has ever been heard in Ennis before. Thank you so much for bringing this music to us."

In Dublin?s Christ Church Cathedral, two tourists from Australia who were traveling around the world, said, "This is the highlight of our trip so far."

And a Dublin city council member, who just happened upon the choir's concert at the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin commented, "I wish I had all my students here today. This is the physical manifestation of what I have been teaching them all week. Together we can make such a difference through music."

That is, of course, precisely what the World Children?s Choir is all about.