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Important Message
Following the announcement of Rhode Island schools reopening, we are thrilled to welcome our choristers back to rehearsals the week of September 21st! The Choir School, including its Piano Program, is banding together, even as we are physically apart, by continuing to meet by way of video practice. These virtual gatherings allow students not just to work on their music, but most importantly, continue to connect with their CSNC family and friends. The Choir School of Newport County is proud to have played a role in helping our families and students overcome obstacles in the past and we are committed to doing so again today and in the future. For many of our students, CSNC is their family, their emotional support system and in some cases, the source of their consistent meals. The economic challenges that accompany this health crisis have everyone rethinking their philanthropic outlook. However, now more than ever, the CSNC needs your support so that we can continue to reach students in need. Please click below to make your donation. Every dollar counts.
We hope you enjoy this video of our amazing Choir School as much as we did putting it together. Thankfully, we were able to make this video before the COVID shutdown. To support the still-ongoing virtual work of The Choir School, please consider making a donation by clicking here.
Featured Event
A new international “live virtual concert hall” platform called Dreamstage (https://dreamstage.live) has been co-developed during Coronatide to meet the needs of performing musicians, by start-up CEO Thomas Hesse and the superstar cellist Jan Vogler. Because Jan happens to be a close friend of one of our Choir School Advisory Council members, and because St. John’s has invested heavily in live broadcast technology over the summer, it so happens that for the international launch of Dreamstage in the coming weeks, our very own pipe organ is going to be featured in a special 80-minute edition of Bach & Friends at Quarter Till!
St. John’s goes live to the world on August 30 at 4:45, but you’ll only be able to watch this special recital if you buy a ticket from Dreamstage.
Tickets are on sale now for $25 exclusively at https://tinyurl.com/QuarterTill30August. One ticket is good for all your friends and family watching around one computer. You can download the program book here.
Best of all, $20 of that ticket price goes directly toward the restoration of St. John’s historic 1894 Hook & Hastings organ. Currently, all donations are being matched, so your $25 ticket is worth $40 for the organ! So please spread the word, especially by sharing this post and tagging the producers:
In its direct financial support of artists, in serving as a turnkey box office that takes care of permissions for streaming and the royalties to publishers and composers, and in providing a spectacularly stable high-resolution digital stage, Dreamstage is going to revolutionize live music-making well past the pandemic. It has already been featured on Fox Business News and in Germany’s largest newspaper. Make history with Peter Berton as he makes music; someday you’ll tell your friends, “And to think, I knew him when…”
For more information, check out this video:
P.S. Past editions of Bach & Friends may be found on our website’s Quarter Till archive, and more will be added soon! Visit the archive at https://saintjohns-newport.org/quarter-till-organ-recitals/.
P.P.S. For parishioners, if the ticket price is outside your entertainment budget, please contact Fr. Humphrey. A number of subsidized tickets are available, and we wouldn’t want anyone to miss this exciting event due to cost considerations.
What to Expect
What a child can expect…
- Singing well is hard work, and also a lot of fun!
- Making new friends who are as excited about music as you are
- Travel, non-singing activities, and a fantastic choir camp in August
- Sing the world’s greatest choral music in its original form with adult singers, not simplified versions
- For professional choristers, a monthly stipend is paid for weekday and Sunday rehearsals, based on your attendance and level. Stipends range from about $12 to $40 per month.
- The churches of The Choir School are beautiful, safe, inspiring places.
What a parent can expect…
- Brain Power! The study of music stimulates and often dramatically improves a child’s overall intellectual development and academic performance. A choral education teaches problem solving, spatial reasoning, cooperation, and an appreciation of excellence, along with patience.
- Community. Parents will find themselves part of an extended and vital “choir family,” proud of the whole team
The Choir School’s constituent churches are affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music in America. While our faculty and services are part of the rich Episcopal tradition of choral training and performance, religious affiliation is not expected or required of students. For more information see: http://rscmamerica.org/about-rscm-america.html