In hopes of bringing healing and solace to the Newtown, Connecticut community, the Keystone State Boychoir (KSB) performed in concert at the Trinity Episcopal Church on June 23, 2013. Six months after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 26 adults and children were shot down, KSB sang to honor the victims and help bring healing to the community. KSB joined the Connecticut Choral Society, the New Jersey Choral Society and the Choir of Historic St. Malachy’s Church in New York City. Some of the families who lost loved ones were in attendance.
KSB was invited to sing by conductor Eric Dale Knapp after the choir’ recent performance of John Rutter’s Mass of the Children at Carnegie Hall. The choir departed from Philadelphia on Friday, June 21, to begin their tour in New York City. The Newtown performance is part of KSB’s summer tour that also includes a major performance at the historic Actors’ Chapel at St. Malachy’s Church in Times Square in New York City to perform Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb there for choir and organ. The famous St. Malachy’s Church recently had a new pipe organ installed, and KSB’s performance is part of its inaugural season.
KSB’s concert in Newtown included selections of remembrance, peace and hope in addition to the Mass of the Children, including Kurt Bestor’s haunting Prayer of the Children. The shootings shattered the town and pierced the hearts of people throughout the world. The free concert was to help bring solace to the community there. Last summer, KSB traveled to Norway and performed for families who lost children in the 2011 summer camp mass shooting there. As part of the Norway tour, KSB also performed in a ceremony in Oslo for Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
KSB has spread the gift of music far and wide and is the only choir in the world to have toured all seven continents. In 2009, KSB made history as the first choir to perform in Antarctica. Internationally, KSB has performed in the world’s major concert halls, including the Manaus Opera House in Brazil, the Petronas Philharmonik Hall in Malaysia, and the Hanoi Opera House in Vietnam, as well as in venues throughout Canada, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Monaco, France, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Norway.
For information about the Newtown concert go to http://www.ctchoralsociety.org.
Watch this video from Newtown, edited by Jeff Soffer:
