'Prayer Of The Children:' SCSU Choir Observes Sandy Hook Anniversary

NEW HAVEN, CT — The Southern Connecticut State University Alumni Choir and the Spring Glen Church Choir released their virtual choir recording today of “Prayer of the Children” performed in observance of the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting. The choir offers this performance in memory of the victims of Sandy Hook and all communities scarred by gun violence.

Four of the educators who died at Sandy Hook on Dec. 14, 2012, were Southern alumnae: Principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, M.S. ’97, 6th Yr. ’98; teacher Anne Marie Murphy, M.S. ’08; school counselor Mary J. Sherlach, M.S. ’90, 6th Yr. ’92; and teacher Victoria Soto, M.S. ’13.

On Southern’s campus, there is a Reflection Garden near Morrill Hall that includes a Sandy Hook Memorial honoring these four alumnae, who heroically sought to protect the lives of the innocent children in their care.

Composed by Kurt Bestor, arranged by Andrea Klouse

SCSU Alumni Choir and Spring Glen Church Treble Choirs
Alicia Butler, Sarah Jane Compton, Susie Hawthorn, Carrie Leap, Hannah Leckman, Gayle Logan

Director: Terese Gemme
Video Production: Jian Chan
Audio Engineer: Bill Ahearn, Tapeworks Studio

Dedicated to all children who are victims of violence.

This virtual choir recording of “Prayer of the Children” by members of the Southern Connecticut State University Alumni Choir and the Spring Glen Church Choir is performed in observance of the tenth anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting. The choir offers this performance in memory of the victims of Sandy Hook and all communities scarred by guns, in solidarity with all those traumatized by violence and war, and in hope of a world that, one day, will hear the prayer of the children.

Kurt Bestor composed “Prayer of the Children” shortly after the beginning of the Bosnian war in 1992 in response to his grief over the ethnic cleansing taking place in the form country of Yugoslavia, where he worked as a missionary in the 1970s. Arranged for choir by Andrea Klouse in 1995, the song has become an international anthem, sung by choirs worldwide to remember lives lost to violence and to offer comfort to those who mourn.