Weather washes away UD students' big day at Governor's Inauguration

On Tuesday, January 18^th The Pennsylvania Girlchoir, as well as their sister group the Keystone State Boychoir, were supposed to be performing at the Governor’s Inauguration in Harrisburg, PA. Unfortunately due to the predicted weather conditions their performance has been cancelled.

 “Due to the predicted dangerous driving conditions tomorrow, the choir will not be performing at the inauguration tomorrow,” says Laura O’Mara, mother to Katie O’Mara, one of half a dozen UD students who are part of the choir.  “They are thinking of the safety of the kids and while we are all very disappointed, safety comes first.”

Katie O’Mara, 14-years-old, has been singing with the Girlchoir for three years.

“I was very disappointed that the performance got cancelled, but it was cancelled for good reasons.  We were all excited to sing for the Governor.  Hopefully, we will have other opportunities similar to this at another time,” says Katie O’Mara.

Together the two choirs form the Commonwealth Youth Choir. The choir is made up of 320 kids between the ages of seven and 17.  Children are selected for the choir by an audition.  Once they have auditioned they are organized into small groups by age and skill set.  You don’t have to have any past experience before joining the choir; that just means you’ll start at the beginning and slowly work your way through the different small groups as you progress.

The choir was selected by the committee board of the inauguration after being suggested to them by Jack Asher, a member of the original board of the choir in 2001 and former board President.  Asher continues to stay active with the group even though his run as President is over. 

“A lot of people already know who we are,” says executive director Susan Ashbaker. “I think we were chosen due to a mixture of knowing who we are and having a mixture of boys and girls in the choir.”

The choir has sung with notable groups such as Philly Singers and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  

“We try to represent the diversity of Philly with our members,” says Ashbaker.

Just because their performance at the Governor’s Inauguration was cancelled does not mean they will not have another chance to sing.  In April they will be taking part in the Philadelphia International Festival of Art.  The PIFA runs from April 1^st to May 7^th.

Also in April they will be performing a newly commissioned piece called “Convergence” at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

On April 24^th the choir will be singing with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Grammy-award winning artist Angelique Kidjo, jazz singer David Linx and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center in “HOPE: An Oratorio”.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Girlchoir visit www.pagirlchoir.org.