Four Calvary Choristers head to NYC for exclusive Girl Chorister Course.

Four young singers from Calvary Episcopal Church in Stonington Borough are heading to New York City this summer after being accepted into an exclusive Girl Chorister course.

Jane Statchen (13), and Rachel Hambly, Evan Anderson, and Cate Statchen, (all 11) will join just 28 other girls from around the country at St Thomas Choir School in Manhattan for the annual program in July.

It’s highly unusual for the course to take four girls all from the same church, and the award is a tribute to the growing reputation of Calvary Choir School, under the direction of choirmaster Joseph Ripka. “It’s very competitive,” said Ripka, “and we’re thrilled to see Calvary recognized in this way.”

“The girls are very motivated,” he went on. “They always come to extra rehearsals because they love to sing.”

The four have a lot of work ahead as they must learn all the music before they arrive in New York. Mr Ripka will be coaching them in the weeks ahead as they learn some very high-level choral repertoire, including pieces by Stanford, Faure, Leighton and Vierne.

“I’m really excited about St Thomas,” said Rachel Hambly. “I think it will help me grow and get more comfortable as a singer.”

The girls will sing two Evensongs and a Sunday service while in New York. Those services will also be webcast and viewed around the world.

“Singing has been my passion since I was in kindergarten, and it’s one of the activities that I really look forward to during the school day,” said Cate Statchen.

Evan Anderson agrees. “I’m so excited to go to St Thomas, because it will really boost me ahead and hopefully open up many opportunities for me,” she said.

St Thomas Choir is considered to be the leading ensemble of its kind in the Anglican choral tradition in the United States. The men and boys of the choir tour the world with their music and have made many recordings.

Jane Statchen is the Head Chorister at Calvary. “I’m really looking forward to the new perspective that the director at St Thomas will provide,” she said. “I think it will be a really neat opportunity to gain experience from someone I’ve never worked with before.”

And a chorister’s work is never done – as the course concludes, the four will travel straight from St Thomas’s to Calvary’s own annual summer choir camp at Ivoryton, Connecticut, for five more days of singing!