Cantabile Youth Singers

Making a difference

by Elena Sharkova, Artistic Director

The first two months of rehearsals of Cantabile Youth Singers have been intense and thrilling. All the singers, new and returning, are fantastic, and it gives me great pleasure to see how the groups are shaping up into excellent choral ensembles.

An interesting and exciting opportunity presented itself when Opera San José asked Cantabile Youth Singers to become their resident children’s chorus. What a rare and special treat for our singers to be a part of a professional opera production! The orchestra, the costumes, the scenery, and all the professional singers! I have heard that our kids have already won over everybody in the opera company by being so professional, enthusiastic, musical, and creative. Many thanks to Sonja, JoAnn, and Keri in the Cantabile office and to the parent volunteers for making this engagement such a smooth ride.

This season our singers will appear with Opera San José in Puccini’s Tosca, November 20 to December 5, and in Bizet’s Carmen, February 5 to 20. I can’t wait to see the first performance, and I hope that many Cantabile families will also go to support their fellow musicians and enjoy the results of this artistic collaboration.

Yet another great and rare musical opportunity came up at the start of September. I received an invitation to conduct a children’s chorus festival from June 25 to 27 in New York City—in Carnegie Hall! It is quite impossible to describe the thrill I feel every time I even think about it. At this event, the Cantabile Concert Choir and Chamber Singers will join with other choral groups from around the country. A parent committee led by Barbara Weinstein and Martha Jepsky has already begun planning the tour. Hello, New York, here we come!

As I write this, only a couple of rehearsals are left before the Chamber Ensemble and Concert Choir take the stage for the first time this season. On November 5 and 7 they join the San José State Concert Choir and Chorale in the beautiful Mission Santa Clara for special concerts dedicated to the memory of the 371 children, teachers, and parents who perished September 3 in the terrorist attack on a middle school in Beslan, Russia.

Originally this program was planned with very different repertoire, but after the tragedy, I decided to scratch those plans and make it a memorial concert with a part of the proceeds going to help the families of those lost or injured in Beslan. I applaud the singers in all the choirs for being so flexible and quick in learning new pieces.

This has been a deeply emotional, musical journey for me personally and for the many Cantabile singers who share my sentiments. As singers and musicians, we are in the business of healing, and it is our duty to leave no hero unsung. There is nothing more healing and hopeful than children singing. Having our Cantabile singers perform at this memorial concert will make it so much more meaningful and heartfelt. We are singing to make a difference and saving the world one note at a time.

Cantabile Choral Guild
953 Industrial Avenue, Suite 122, Palo Alto CA 94303
650.424.1410 info@cantabile.org