By Kate Bobby
It's a Saturday afternoon at the Queens Center Mall, and the crowd is at full tilt, in a holiday shopping frenzy when they hear it. And stop.
It's the Youth Gospel Choir of the Queens Symphony Orchestra singing in full voice, and within just seconds, they have fully and gladly surrendered to its spirit. Looking up and around, they see the crowds of other shoppers halted mid-step, silenced mid-sentence and gathered in unison to hear the choir deliver a sneak preview of the holiday concert it will perform this Friday at 8 p .m., at the Allen AME Cathedral, 110-31 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica.
Under the direction of the orchestra's conductor, Arthur Fagen, the Youth Gospel Choir will perform a set of stirring holiday gospel standards this Friday, joined by two other Queens choirs – the Allen AME Cathedral Mass Choir and the Joong Bu Presbyterian Church Choir – for a performance of Handel's “Messiah.”
“I don't think there is another city orchestra with its own gospel choir, especially one as good as this,” said the orchestra's acting executive director, Sofia Foglia, who explained that the Youth Gospel Choir evolved seven years ago, the result of community outreach.
“Basically, we asked the community what it wanted, and they told us they wanted a gospel choir,” said Foglia, adding. “It's been a tremendous success with audiences.”
“Furthermore, this is the first year the choir has appointed a formal parents committee to help raise funds,” attested Foglia, preparing them for the choir's next goal: going professional.
“These guys are ready to take it to the next level. That's definitely the idea,” said Youth Gospel Choir Director Chantel Wright, attesting to the presence of two chief ingredients of success: talent and dedication.
“There are always a core group of singers in this choir that keeps coming back to sing every year, and I've heard them come along over the years under Chantel's direction, both as musicians and as young adults,” said Parents Committee President Erlina Skeete. “They are incredibly dedicated. Some of them come from New Jersey and Long Island. Many of them have to work and attend school in addition to showing up for the choir. But they do.
“Sure you can do other things with your time, but you won't get as much out of it. You won't get the same thing back,” said Nereida Garcia, 19, of Flushing, one of the choir's gifted soloists. “Chantel is an incredible example. Her philosophy is, “Why be mediocre when you can be marvelous?”
“She is a very spiritual person, a very inspirational person,” said male soloist Delbert Butts, 19, of South Jamaica, who has sung for Wright for four years and, as a music education major at York College, plans to make music his life.
Valerie Vasquez, 19, a choir soloist from Jamaica, agrees that Wright has been an inspiration. Wright is also renowned for being strict.
“She puts things on the table. If you don't like it, that is still the way things are,” she says with a smile, addressing the choir director's reputation for making late singers stand throughout rehearsals (which run, on average, three to four hours.)
“It makes you arrive on time, so it's good, ” Vasquez said with a laugh.
“If they're late to practice, I'll kill them, ” she says with a laugh. “Seriously though, if I say, we start in 10 minutes, we start in 10. The kids in my choir are musicians. I'm accountable to them. They're accountable to me.”
“She is a great role model for me. She's out in front. She projects herself as a leader and I think of myself as a leader, and not just because of my height,” said soloist Natalie Channer, 13, of Rockaway Beach. “She teaches us that, if we want something for ourselves, we're going to have to go out and get it.”
“It's hard work,” continued Channer, adding with a smile. “But, it's worth it.
Part of the choir's hard work includes an intensive week-long music camp, conducted by Wright, at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, Old Westbury. During this week, the choir learns much of the music they will be singing together throughout the year. And, they learn some lessons about music that are harder to put into words.
“Before I joined the chorus, I would sing but I would sing for show,” said soloist Cindy Laurent, 19, of Laurelton Queens, gesturing to her heart “Chantel heard it and told me, you have to sing from here. From deep within. Now, I do. I feel what I'm singing. My mother said she can hear the difference, too.
“You apply what you learn from her everywhere,” Laurent continued. “Everywhere you go, you have to set an example. You have to trust in God.”
“Chantel shows you how to feel what you sing,” agrees Perrisha Yeshurun, 14, of St. Albans, a music major at Bayside High School. “She shows you how not to be afraid of what's inside of you. ”
” I don't like hanging out and doing nothing.” concluded choir member, Joi Campbell, 15, of Cambria Heights. I like singing about God, and seeing people be touched by music.”
For information, call the cathedral at 206-4600.
