Summit Students Sing At Prudential Center Concert

Summit, NJ -- Kent Place School joined more than 4,000 students at the Prudential Center to sing for the second annual American Young Voices concert.

The concert, on May 26, showcased more than 100 local schools including Kent Place in Summit, where students sang with a live band in a professional setting to a packed audience of friends and family.

World-renowned conductor Francisco J. Núñez, the founder and artistic director of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, led the choir for the second straight year.

“I have seen Nunez’s work before and he is incredible,” Anna Lenti, Kent Place Musical Director said. “Our students are seated in one section of the Prudential Center. And we all sing music all together. It is all a very cool, collaborative thing. So many people singing at same time is thrilling.”

American Young Voices is not a competition, but an all-inclusive program designed to encourage children in grades 2 through 8 from all backgrounds to realize the power of music. The teachers spend months preparing their students during their choral or general music classes for the main event, according to the Prudential Center.

Lenti is the sixth grade chorus instructor and also teaches music appreciation class for ninth grade, while also assisting the choir in the middle and upper schools.

Lenti was particularly happy with the concert as it gave her students something to look forward to as the school year came to an end.

“The concert season dives off at the end of the year, and to have this big, exciting thing to work toward is thrilling,” Lenti said. “It really has given them purpose and direction. It has been really cool to see the students come together.”

(Photo provided: Kent Place Chorus)