Friends' Central Chorus Members to Perform at Carnegie Hall

Members of the Friends' Central Upper School Chorus will be heading to Carnegie Hall in New York from March 18-20 to perform Total Vocal, Contemporary A Cappella Music Concert. Presented by DCINY, the second annual Total Vocal Concert, which takes place on Sunday, March 20 at 2 pm in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, is a celebration of contemporary a cappella. This year’s concert will feature arrangements from “Pitch Perfect” and “The Sing-Off” and will include some surprise celebrity guest artists. This is Friends’ Central’s third trip to Carnegie Hall in the last five years, and this year’s trip is particularly exciting, as they will be working with Deke Sharon, arranger, music director, and vocal producer of “Pitch Perfect” and “Pitch Perfect 2.”

As members of the audition-only vocal groups at Friends’ Central, this group of 14 singers is ready to take on the challenge of working with Sharon, who has been heralded as “the father of contemporary a cappella.” Friends’ Central Choral Director Michele Zuckman comments, “Our trip to New York will afford some of our singers the opportunity to rehearse and perform with world-class conductors and premiere college and high school vocal groups from around the world. Working with someone like Deke Sharon and to say that you performed at Carnegie Hall are two very exciting accomplishments. I am grateful to the students for their enthusiasm and dedication to this project, and to their families and the FCS administration for their incredible support.”

Friends’ Central students performing amongst these groups of prestigious producers and performers will be Olivia Bartholomew, Margaux Berland, Matthew Blackman, McKenna Blinman, Amelia Boscov, Peter Bradbeer, Anthony Candelori-Moraglia, Naomi Detre, Georgia Fossett, Ciara Hervas, Noelle Mercer, Evan Paszamant, Lydia Varcoe-Wolfson, and Zoe Walker.

As an ensemble, broken up into two acts, the singers will be performing eight pieces arranged by Sharon, including “Kids in America,” “Shut Up and Dance,” “Try,” “Bellas Back to Basics,” and “Love Shack.” Friends’ Central’s chorus members are looking forward to performing some of these more modern hits with such an accomplished musical mind like Deke Sharon, and to perform at a place like Carnegie Hall will be an experience they will never forget. FCS sophomore Evan Paszamant, who is heading to Carnegie Hall for the first time this year, shares, “It’s a wonderful opportunity to get to go to Carnegie Hall, especially with such an outstanding group of performers. We are so excited!”

To find out more or to purchase tickets, click here.