BETHLEHEM, PA (May 26, 2018)—- Members of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts (Charter Arts) Touring Choir will be traveling to New York City this weekend in preparation for their performance with composer, John Rutter, at Carnegie Hall as part of a choir festival adjudicated by Mid-America Concert Productions. The choir will perform alongside other choirs on Monday, May 28th in a full orchestral performance of Rutter’s “Requiem” and then they will perform a 25-minute solo set at the festival’s closing concert on Tuesday, May 29th.
The choir regularly performs Rutter’s work as part of its repertoire, so this engagement is especially important to the students. For instance, the school’s combined choirs performed Rutter’s Magnificat for the school’s winter choral concert this year.
The Charter Arts Touring Choir is currently made up of 50 students and with this special performance continues its impressive legacy under the direction of David Macbeth, who is also the Artistic Director of Vocal Music at the school. The choir earned a gold medal at the 2012 World Choir Games, which was the highest award for a high school choir at the prestigious international event. In addition to performing to sold-out crowds in the region, the choir has graced the stage alongside such acts as the pop group, Paramore, the operatic quartet, The Tenors, and the legendary rock group, Foreigner.
“The opportunity to perform with John Rutter is incredibly significant to me and to the students,” says Macbeth. “He is one of the most significant composers of choral music in the last 100 years. Our repertoire has included his work since our school opened fifteen years ago. When I mentioned this festival opportunity at the start of the school year, the students actually let out screams of joy because they were so excited. This is the first time in our school’s history and my personal history to work with John Rutter in person. It will be incredibly inspiring for all of us.”
ABOUT MID- AMERICA PRODUCTIONS:
http://midamerica-music.com/blog/john-rutter-returns-carnegie-hall/
ABOUT THE LEHIGH VALLEY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS (Charter Arts):
The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, opened in 2003, is an audition-based, tuition-free, public charter school that provides a comprehensive curriculum for high school students, grades 9-12, who have a passion for the arts. Students major in one of seven artistic areas: dance, theater, vocal music, instrumental music, literary arts, figure skating or visual art.
Charter Arts’ rigorous curriculum fosters both academic and artistic excellence for its students. The school’s impressive PA School Performance Profile (SPP) Academic Score, AP and Keystone exam statistics, student SAT scores, prestigious artistic accolades, and graduation rate are a testament to the outstanding education Charter Arts provides.
The Class of 2017 and the Class of 2018 earned the highest combined proficiency scores on the Keystone Exams of all public and charter schools in the Lehigh Valley. In May 2018, Charter Arts earned a Silver Award for its impressive ranking on the U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools Rankings. Charter Arts is a Title I High Achievement school, placing it in the top 5 % of all Title I high schools in Pennsylvania.
Close to 600 students from across Pennsylvania travel into Bethlehem daily to attend Charter Arts. The student body consists of students who hail from towns as far north as the Poconos, as far south as the Philadelphia suburbs, and as far west as Lancaster County. Many students travel two to three hours per day to attend this innovative school.
For more information about Charter Arts, visit the school’s website at www.CharterArts.org or call 610-868-2971. Charter Arts is located at 321 East 3rdStreet, Bethlehem PA 18015.
Information & Image Provided By:
Ann Gillette
Manager of Public Relations and Media
Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts
321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015
www.CharterArts.org
