Schools unite to perform

Richard Tedesco

The Herricks High School Chamber Orchestra and Choir, and singers from St. Aidan School will hit the big time on Sunday with a performance at Lincoln Center.

The accomplished young Herricks musicians and the St. Aidan singers are slated to perform in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in a holiday concert with an elite Croatian girls choir, Zvjezdice (Little Stars). They’ll also be sharing the bill with Klapa Astoria, a Croatian a cappella folk singing group, the West Point Military Academy Band and the South Shore Brass on the Dec. 19 program which starts at 3 p.m.

The concert, sponsored by the Harmony for Peace Foundation, is intended to bring Croatians together “as a healing event” after the years of war in that country, according to Drago Bubalo, St. Aidan music director. Proceeds above costs of the event will be donated to an orphanage in Bosnia called Mother’s Village, Drago said.

Bubalo had heard about Herrick’s orchestra, and was favorably impressed with their performance at a concert in October. He had been thinking of using Jullilard string players for an upcoming performance, but instead contacted Robin Maddox, director of Herrick High’s chamber players, to have several members of that ensemble accompany the St. Aidan choir in the U.S. debut of a requiem by Franz Suppe.

Bubalo subsequently e-mailed video of the group to Zdravko Sljivac, director of the Little Stars, Croatian girls aged 13 to 18 years old, and Sljivac endorsed Bubalo’s idea to have the Herricks orchestra accompany the young singers.

“We thought it’s a much more charming and enchanting to have a youth orchestra playing with young singers,” Bubalo said.

Maddox said it’s an “exciting opportunity” for the Herricks musicians, and hopes it will lead to other things.

“We’ve established a relationship. And we’re looking forward to further collaborations,” Maddox said.

Bubalo said he hoped the December concert would become an annual event, and said he also welcomed more opportunities to perform with the Herricks musicians.

“I thought people should hear more about this youth orchestra,” said Bubalo, who will conduct the Herricks players at the Manhattan performance.

More people certainly will become aware of them when they perform at Lincoln Center on Sunday.

“It’s a great feeling,” Herricks senior Ashley Thakus, a violinst, said. “We’ve never performed as a chamber orchestra in Lincoln Center. It’s really exciting and we’re excited about performing with so many important people coming. As an orchestra, we’re pretty good already.”

Herricks senior Anthony Madonna, who has performed and sung in Eastern European venues on one of Herricks’ summer concert tours, is particularly looking forward to learning new music for the performance, and encountering new people.

“The venue is very cool, but it’s more interesting what we’re playing,” Madonna said. “It’s the opportunity to meet new people. It’s definitely an interesting experience because it’s so new to us.”

Avery Fisher Hall is located at 10 Lincoln Center Plaza. Tickets for Sunday’s performance are $65 and $45 for the orchestra; $35 and $25 for the tiers. They can be purchased online at www.lincolncenter.org or by calling 484-885-8539.

 

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