ALTON - The Collinsville Chorale and other area singers recently had one of the biggest performances in their long history with a date at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
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Mark Hayes arranged the music for the show. He was described by fellow singers in the group in one word, “amazing.” The assembled chorus from the area included the Collinsville Chorale, Concord Trinity UMC, and the St. Louis County Community Chorus, all under the direction of Andy Waggoner. The other participants are from the St. Louis Symphony in Unison Chorus and Manchester UMC Chancel Choir under the direction of Kevin McBeth. There were about 175 singers in the group from the area that performed in New York with about another 50 individuals.
Gary Humphrey started the Collinsville Chorale group 25 years ago and he said the performance at Carnegie was simply “fantastic.”
The music is familiar to most everyone with the added touch of Mark Hayes arranging. They included: “Great Gittin' Up Mornin’," “Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child, “ "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel,” "Little David Play on your Harp,” “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho,” “Deep River, Aint’ that Good News” and “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.”
“We sang with a 30-piece orchestra in front of a full house at Carnegie,” Humphrey said. “It was about an hour concert. It means the world to me to be able to do this. This is something we started from scratch in 1994. We started with 15 singers. I have been at it for a very long time.”
There were four rehearsals, two intensive hours each with the combined groups from the area that made up the major portion of the chorus that performed at Carnegie. In between those rehearsals, choral members listened to the music over and over. So much so, one choral member said, “several of the songs popped up as 'earworms.'”
Humphrey closed by saying: “It was a surreal feeling in such a historic place. Carnegie produces a sound that is something everyone should experience if they could.”
