SEQUIM — New York City’s world-renowned Carnegie Hall may be on the other side of the country, but it’s within singing distance for Sequim High School Select Choir.
The choir has been invited to participate at next year’s Field Studies International Choral Festivals, a collaboration of the finest school-age vocalists in the U.S.
All the high schools’ top singers have to do is raise $45,000 by April.
The Select Choir of students in grades 9-12 was selected for the April 1-4 Carnegie Hall event after its stand-out performance last May in Anaheim, Calif., at the Heritage Festival at Disneyland.
“If the choir had not won last year, they would not be going to New York,” said Jim Stoffer, Sequim High School Choir Booster president, whose daughter, Sarah, is one of the 36-member ensemble.
Stoffer figures that the Choir Boosters have raised about 25 percent of the money needed to finance the trip.
The choir has scheduled four mini-concerts at the Bank of America Park at the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street in November, December and January to help raise money.
The concerts will be from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10; from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1; from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17; and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12. Donations will be accepted.
The choir will perform at other venues as well, Stoffer said.
Stoffer recalled the Anaheim event last May in which Sequim High choirs competed in the 1A category for schools with 500 to 1,000 students.
The choirs won an “amazing” total of three gold awards, he said.
In addition to awarding gold to Sequim High School Men’s Chorus, Women’s Chorus and Ensemble Choirs, the Heritage Festival judges awarded two Gold Awards to soloists James Willis and Dalton Ackley.
Sequim was one of about 30 schools in Anaheim. Students competed against Spanaway, a 4A Washington school with a much larger enrollment, Stoffer said.
Then came the Sept. 14 invitation to New York.
“They’re not only representing Sequim but Clallam County,” said Stoffer, who is retired in Sequim from the Coast Guard.
He had served as the captain of the Cutter Cuttyhunk, a patrol boat based in Port Angeles.
Choir members and Director Stephanie Clark, a Chimacum High School graduate, repeatedly called the trip “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“I really think that New York and Carnegie Hall is a place where every musician should perform,” said senior Stephanie Dunbar, who placed second among choir soloists in the state last year.
“It gives us all a chance to participate in a culturally invigorating experience such as New York.”
Junior Sarah Stoffer, who has been singing under Clark’s instruction since she was in sixth grade, said, “I’ve always wanted to go to New York City and sing and see a Broadway show.”
Another junior, Chyrell Jones, who is in her second year of Select Choir, said, “It’s going to be the most amazing trip ever.
SDLqIt’s Carnegie Hall, man!”
Clark, who has taught choir for the school district for seven years, grew up in Chimacum, graduating from Chimacum High School.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Whitworth University and master’s degree from Lesley University in curriculum and instruction through the arts.
Clark said she, too, is excited, though she has traveled to Carnegie Hall once before through Whitworth.
“This is a great opportunity for the kids,” Clark said, adding the choir has been invited twice and could not pass up the opportunity, especially with a majority of seniors as members.
“Our kids get to do it all. It’s hard to work around, but it’s great to see,” she said, adding she has five girl volleyball players, three cheerleaders, two basketball players, a wrestler and a soccer player singing in the Select Choir.
Many are honor students, as well.
Clark handpicks each Select Choir member through individual auditions.
The Select Choir and all Sequim school choirs are supported by about 50 parent members of the Choir Boosters, and Stoffer heads a board of five.
To help raise money for the trip or for other information about the choir, contact Jim Stoffer at 360-775-9356 or jamesstoffer@wave cable.com.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.