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Friends
of the World Children’s Choir Guild Cordially invite you to attend the |
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Arts/Peace Workshop & Open
Rehearsal Visit
9
am – noon A Million Voices One Peace Concert Download
a printable copy of the brochure |
On September 21, 2004, the United Nations' International Day of Peace, the World Children's Choir - a locally based professional children's choir with a worldwide focus - will join voices with other children from across the country and from more than 80 nations around the world to sing together to promote peace in the world. International participants include a school of 28,000 students in Lucknow, India, a youth group in a refugee camp in the Palestinian territories, an Israeli youth group in Nazareth, Israel, and an indigenous group on Easter Island. The World Children's Choir is one of six featured international choirs in the finale and will represent North America by webcast from Northern Virginia. This extraordinary worldwide musical feat is made possible by the technology of the Internet, as children sing together by simulcast. The children's singing will ripple around the world like a musical wave at a ballpark. This remarkable and technologically challenging joining together of voices worldwide is being called "the Million Voice Choir," due to the unprecedented number of children (and adults) who are expected to participate in the United States and worldwide. The World Children's Choir will contribute 50 of the million voices heard around the world that evening.
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The Million Voice Choir will sing "We Rise," a song written by singer/songwriter Gemma shortly after the attacks of 9/11. Gemma, an American songwriter/producer of Philippine heritage and architect of The Million Voice Choir, will lead the finale of the musical wave when the song is sung in a webcast organized by 11 Days of Global Unity from New York City. Those in the Washington metropolitan area can learn the song with the World Children's Choir this Saturday, September 18, at a Workshop and Open Rehearsal (9-12 noon) at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 4250 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA. Activities for children include choreography, drumming, singing, and the construction of Peace Doves to carry while singing during The Million Voice Choir performance on September 21 at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend the performance that will take place at McLean Baptist Church, 1367 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, VA. Admission to both events is free, but contributions will be requested and reservations are required. For Sondra Harnes, Artistic Director of the World Children's Choir, the formation of The Million Voice Choir and her choir's participation in this event is a dream come true. She has been talking about her choir participating in just such a program for years. "The primary objective of our choir is to promote international friendship and world peace through song, " she explains. "The Million Voice Choir is a macrocosm of our choir! It is intended to do just the same thing!" In addition to choirs like the World Children's Choir, a number of celebrities have also announced they will participate in the September 21 global musical event, including legendary folk singer and activist Pete Seeger and Dr. Jane Goodall. As Gemma explains, "It takes a single drop to start a wave." A musical wave of gigantic proportions will be set in motion on September 21. The World Children's Choir is counting on adding quite a number of drops to that wave. For more information on how you can be part of the event, call 703-734-0621 or send an e-mail to info@worldchildrenschoir.org. Where WCC singers live: Media Staff/For more information about World Children Choir: For more information about The Million Voice Choir: For more information about 11 Days of Global Unity: World Children's Choir - Other Recent News & Information Ms. Harnes took the World Children's Choir Chamber Singers to perform at the United Nations, at Ground Zero and at St. Peter's Catholic Church in mid-August. Ms. Harnes was also invited to give a speech about the World Children's Choir Voices for Children Campaign at "A Youth Assembly at the United Nations: Tomorrow's Leaders Today". The World Children's Choir will offer a three week International Arts/Peace Camp in July 2005 for children and youth from Middle Eastern countries and the United States. The Choir's new CD, We Must Dream, songs of love, hope and inspiration, will be released on October 1. Proceeds will benefit an International Children's Charity, the Choir's International Arts/Peace Camp, and the WCC scholarship program for children from low-income families. According to Artistic Director Harnes, the World Children's Choir owes its creation to the spirit of glasnost. In December 1989, just weeks after the Berlin Wall was torn down, Harnes heard a televised performance of the Soviet Union's Red Army Chorus sing "God Bless America" at the Kennedy Center. Inspired by the emotional response of the Kennedy Center audience to this astounding gesture of international friendship and acting on a desire to celebrate and contribute to world peace through song, Harnes announced the formation of the World Children's Choir. "The Choir's mission is even more important now than it was in 1990," said Ms. Harnes. Beginning its fifteenth season, the World Children's Choir is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that serves as a voice for children worldwide - a voice that celebrates cultural diversity through music, builds positive international relations, and through its Voices for Children Campaign asks for and provides opportunities for people to work together to create a peaceful, healthy world for all children. True to this mission, the Choir raises money for, assists with, and coordinates activities (such as the Million Voice Choir) that directly support children in need, both locally and around the world. The World Children's Choir is a professionally trained choir with divisions for children age 4-18. Auditions are held throughout the concert season. All students are trained in the Italian Bel Canto style of singing, which nurtures the development of a solo-quality singing voice. The World Children's Choir has song for its share of notables, including sitting and former US Presidents (George H. W. Bush, William Clinton, and George W. Bush), Queen Noor of Jordan, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Justices of the United States Supreme Court. And it has shared the performance stage with singers Michael Boulton, John Denver, Whitney Houston, Three Mo' Tenors, Lee Ann Womack, and Metropolitan Opera soprano Hei-Kyung Hong. The World Children's Choir has performed in concerts benefiting UNICEF, the National Children's Defense Fund, CARE Foundation's Bosnian Relief Fund, and the United Nation's Environmental Programme. In 2001, the World Children's Choir helped raise money for the Raisa Gorbachev Memorial Fund for Global Leukemia Research and Treatment for Children. Performing at a fundraiser for the Fund at the Russian Embassy, the choir presented former President Mikhail Gorbachev with its Voices for Children Award in recognition of the freedom he brought to the children of Russia. In their 1999-2000 season, the Choir raised funds to purchase an entire year's worth of school supplies for children in Morolica, Honduras, whose village was destroyed by a hurricane. The Choir also partnered to raise the funds needed to build a blood-testing wing in the Kgabo District Mission Clinic in South Africa. The Choir has recorded a song written by Assistant Director James Selway that was inspired by the events of 9/11 - a powerful anthem entitled "With One Dream." The recording prompted immediate invitations to the Choir to perform the song before members of the Supreme Court at the National Gallery, and before UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and distinguished guests at the 2002 United States Association for the UN Awards Dinner at the National Building Museum. Part of the net proceeds from retail sale of this CD have been donated to a charitable organization working with families who lost a loved one in the attacks of September 11, 2001. The World Children's Choir - 6723 Whittier Avenue, Suite 404 - McLean, VA 22101 - 703-734-0621 info@worldchildrenschoir.org
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