In the News with The American Boychoir

The American Boychoir to Appear on NPR's From the Top

Episode airs nationally and on WWFM 89.1 FM the week of January 17

[Princeton, NJ, January 5, 2011] - The American Boychoir of Princeton, New Jersey will appear on an upcoming episode of From the Top, the hit NPR radio program featuring America's best young classical musicians and hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O'Riley. Broadcast from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the show will air nationally the week of January 17 and locally on WWFM 89.1 FM on Saturday, January 22 at 12pm. (Click HERE for the broadcast schedule.) The episode was taped before a live audience at the Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University in Bethlehem on December 3, 2010. On the show The American Boychoir performs Agnus Dei from Messe Basse by Gabriel Fauré and "Music Down in My Soul", traditional, arr. Moses Hogan.

For the past decade, From the Top has been the preeminent showcase for America's best young musicians. Through award-winning NPR and PBS programs, online media, a national tour of live events, and education programs, From the Top shares the stories and performances of pre-collegiate musicians with millions each week.

From the Top is made possible by support from US Trust and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. It is also supported through the generous contributions of individuals and institutions as well as public radio stations.

The programs offered by The American Boychoir School are made possible in part through a grant by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by the New Jersey Cultural Trust.

From the Top on NPR is produced in association with WGBH Radio Boston and New England Conservatory of Music, its home and education partner.

The American Boychoir Performs in Odgen Utah

COPYRIGHT © The Times of Trenton 2010

Princeton Youth a Grammy hopeful Sang on Mass CD

By Krystal Knapp
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PRINCETON TOWNSHIP - Asher Wulfman is only 12, but he has already sung with the Boston University Opera, the Boston Lyric Opera and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

In his first year at the American Boychoir School, he successfully auditioned for the role of boy soprano for Leonard Bernstein's Mass, and performed the work with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at venues that included Carnegie Hall, the United Palace Theater and the Kennedy Center.

Asher then joined the orchestra back in Baltimore to record the Mass, which was released on CD on Bernstein's birthday on Aug. 25 of last year.

"The experience was exhilarating, and I wish I could do it again," the seventh-grader said yesterday. "I will remember it forever."

Though Asher said nothing can beat the excitement of performing a solo with a professional orchestra and making a CD, he has enjoyed an added bonus as a result of the recording - a Grammy nomination for best classical album.

Bernstein's Mass, conducted by Marin Alsop, and featuring Wulfman, baritone Jubilant Sykes, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Morgan State University Choir and the Peabody Children's Chorus, is one of five finalists for the Grammy honor.

"I knew they were going to try for it but I never expected the nomination," said Asher. Though he said the best part of the whole experience was working with so many talented people, he added that the Grammy nomination was "a nice touch."

Asher, who is also a violinist, has been performing since he was 5. Though he comes from a musical family and his mom Amy Wulfman is a violinist and violin teacher, he and his parents credit his older brother Ben Wulfman with getting him involved in singing.

When the family lived in Belmont, Mass., Ben, a french horn player, participated in the Boston Children's Opera, a professional theatre club for children in grades two through nine. Asher wanted to take part when he saw the fun his big brother was having. He joined at 5 and performed with the group several years, which led to opportunities to sing with professional groups.

"The singing, and dressing up in costumes looked like a lot of fun," said Asher. "Though I think when I was 5 I liked the dressing up part, but I ended up really enjoying the singing part."

The family moved to Princeton when Asher's dad, Clifford Wulfman, accepted a job at Princeton University as the coordinator of library digital initiatives.

"Asher enrolled in the summer program at the American Boychoir School and he loved it so much he never left," said Clifford Wulfman.

The American Boychoir School, for boys in grades four through eight, is the only non-sectarian boys' choir school in the nation. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1937, and has been located in Princeton since 1950. The Boychoir performs with world-class ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, and appears regularly as featured artists with James Levine at the Tanglewood.

Representatives from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra approached school officials in 2008 in search of a soprano, but the school's concert choir was scheduled to be on fall tour during the performances, Clifford Wulfman said. School officials were approached a second time and Asher, who was new and not yet in the concert choir, was referred to them for an audition.

Asher hopes the album will win, of course, but he is more focused on his singing at school, spending time with his friends and family, and being a normal kid.

When his father Clifford is asked whether Asher will be attending the Grammys on Jan. 31, he laughs.

"He will be on winter tour with the Boychoir," he said. "Maybe he will persuade his tour hosts to let him stay up late and watch the Grammys on television."

ABS Soloist Performs Bernstein's Mass with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

First year Training Chorister, Asher Wulfman, successfully auditioned for the role of 'Boy Soprano' in six performances of Leonard Bernstein's Mass with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop in October. Following one week of intense rehearsal preparation, Asher sang three performances at the Meyerhof Center in Baltimore, and two New York performances at Carnegie Hall and United Palace Theater, and a final performance in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center. Asher also joined the cast back in Baltimore during two days of recording of this work to be released on the Naxos Label. The New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini said, "The Boy Soprano Asher Edward Wulfman was endearing, soothing the anguish of the Street Chorus and healing the Celebrant with his sweet singing of "Secret Songs" in the work's conclusion".

OLYMPIC ROWER JAMIE SCHROEDER, ABS '95, HEADS TO BEIJING

The American Boychoir cheers for the U.S Rowing Team !

Jamie Schroeder started his rowing career in his sophomore year of college and three years later was on the 2004 US Olympic Rowing Team. His athletic achievements include winning gold in the quadruple sculls at the International 2008 FISA World Cup stop in Lucerne, winning the single sculls and the quadruple sculls at the 2007 US Rowing National Championships and finished 10th in the 2004 Olympics in the sweep four and will compete in the quad sculls in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Jamie was asked by reporter Philip Hersh,  “How do you get to the Olympics three years after taking up the sport? “Just like how a musical ensemble gets to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice.

"There are parallels between what I did in music and rowing," Schroeder said. "In rowing, your fitness and strength are your own responsibility. Then you have to put the boat and the boat's needs ahead of your own.”

"It's the same in music. You have to be proficient at your own instrument and show up at rehearsal and put the ensemble first, using the time to the advantage of the entire ensemble. If you do all those things correctly, your ensemble or your boat will perform well."

Jamie Schroeder attended the American Boychoir School for two years as a promising middle-school tenor. In 9^th grade at Choate School, he was given a tuba to play because he was the biggest kid among the band members.  He became good enough to play with the Northwestern marching band during the two years he spent there before transferring to Stanford where he was recruited for the Rowing Team.

Jamie graduated from Stanford three years later with, simultaneously, an undergraduate degree in biology and master's degree in bioengineering.Schroeder then earned a fellowship to Oxford University in England to do work on a doctoral thesis with the working title, "Metabolic Control of Oxidative Phosphorylation." He split research for the thesis between Oxford and the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. Jamie then embarked on an M.D.-PhD program by beginning medical studies at Johns Hopkins University where he will specialize in cardiology because it relates best to his doctoral research, which focuses on energy production in cells and could eventually help predict and stave off heart attacks.

John Alexander, ABS ‘57- Honored with Chorus America Award

Artistic Director of Pacific Chorale since 1972, John Alexander is one of America’s most respected choral conductors. His inspired leadership both on the podium and as an advocate for the advancement of the choral art has garnered national and international admiration and acclaim.

Alexander’s long and distinguished career has encompassed conducting hundreds of choral and orchestral performances nationally and in 27 countries around the globe. Equally versatile whether on the podium or behind the scenes, Alexander has prepared choruses for many of the world’s most outstanding orchestral conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Lukas Foss, Max Rudolf, Carl St.Clair, Gerard Schwarz, Marin Alsop, John Mauceri, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart.

He is a board member and former president of Chorus America, the service organization for choruses in North America.

Alexander retired in spring 2006 from his position as Director of Choral Studies at California State University, Fullerton, having been awarded the honor of Professor Emeritus. From 1970 to 1996, he held the position of Director of Choral Studies at California State University, Northridge. In 2003, Chorus America honored him with the establishment of the “John Alexander Conducting Faculty Chair” for their national conducting workshops.

Most recently, in June 2008, Alexander received the “Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art” from Chorus America.

WARMING UP THE AMERICAN BOYCHOIR WAY

A Nutcracker Suite

"Don’t sing like Muppets^®" (i.e., by stretching the neck), he warns,
"but rather like a nutcracker" - by dropping the jaw.

Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Litton-Lodal Music Director of The American Boychoir approaches warming up with gentle good humor. He likes to use colorful imagery. To find out more about his vocal technique, please click here for a PDF of the full article printed in the Sept. 2007 issue of Choral Singer.

Paul Caldwell Conducts Voices of Light

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, Carl Dreyer’s 1928 silent film masterpiece, “is the greatest work of 20th century art in any medium. The drama is unforgettable.” That’s the opinion of Paul Caldwell, who is conducting the Youth Choral Theater of Chicago in Voices of Light, an oratorio written by Richard Einhorn in response to the unvarnished emotion of the film. Dreyer used historical transcripts and riveting close-ups to depict the 1431 trial and execution of the Maid of Orleans for his film–which like Joan was denounced, censored, and burned. The filmmaker pieced together another version from outtakes, but that too was believed to have gone up in flames. However, in 1952, an Italian man found a negative of it–then abused the original by adding everything from images of stained glass to an optical soundtrack. Miraculously, a print of Dreyer’s original was found in a closet at a Norwegian mental institution in 1981 and was restored by the Cinémathèque Française. Resurrected like Joan (who was canonized in 1920), Passion has been touring the country for performances of Einhorn’s Voices of Light, which draws from medieval music and the writings of female mystics as a counterpoint to Joan’s male tormentors–more appropriate than variations on La Marseillaise that accompanied the original. The Chicago performance by the Youth Choral Theater–formerly known as Jubilate–will command a total of 150 voices and instruments to mark the choir’s downtown debut using its brand-new name.

–ANNE SPISELMAN, Chicago Magazine Feb 07

Voices of Light Feb. 10th at 8 p.m. Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph. Tickets $20-$40. 312-334-7777

Learn more about Camp Albemarle 2007

Anton Armstrong Receives $200,000 'Great Teaching' Award

Baylor University has named the conductor of the famed St. Olaf Choir as the recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, the single largest award given to an individual for great teaching. Dr. Anton Armstrong, the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, will receive $200,000 plus $25,000 for his home department and will teach in residence at Baylor during the 2007 spring semester and first summer session.

"The committee reviewed 86 completed nominations that represented 68 colleges and universities and 46 disciplines," said Cherry Award selection committee chair Heidi J. Hornik, professor of art history. "Although the three finalists were all extremely strong, the committee selected Dr. Anton Armstrong by a large majority. We look forward to Dr. Armstrong teaching in residence during the spring and first summer session in 2007."

"It is with sincere humbleness and immense gratitude that I accept the 2006 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching at Baylor University," Armstrong said. "I feel most overwhelmed by the honor Baylor University has bestowed upon me, for this award does not simply affirm my vocation to serve others through my teaching. It also recognizes all the wonderful family, teachers, mentors, students and singers who have touched my life and nurtured this calling in me through the years. I will strive to bring the best of my gifts as a teacher, artist and man of faith to the Baylor University community while in residence during the Spring of 2007."

Armstrong received a bachelor's of music in vocal performance from St. Olaf College, a master's degree in choral music from the University of Illinois and a doctorate in choral conducting from Michigan State University.

After serving on the faculty at Calvin College, Armstrong returned to St. Olaf in 1990. As conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, he has toured throughout the United States and to Denmark, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Central Europe. Together with the St. Olaf Orchestra, the choir also was heard live on a national broadcast of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" radio program. The choir has recorded 11 CDs during Armstrong's tenure as conductor.

In recent years he has guest conducted such noted ensembles as the Utah Symphony and Symphony Chorus, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated in concert with Bobby McFerrin and Garrison Keillor and is active as a guest conductor and lecturer throughout North America, Europe, Scandinavia, Korea, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean.

Armstrong is widely recognized for his work with youth and children's choral music. He began his tenure as conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Youth Choral Academy in June 1998. In the summer of 2001, he served as co-conductor of the World Youth Choir sponsored by the International Federation of Choral Music. He served for more than 20 years on the summer faculty of the American Boychoir School in Princeton, N.J., and was conductor of the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale, a 75-voice treble chorus based in Grand Rapids, Mich., from 1981 to 1990.

Robert Foster Cherry graduated from Baylor in 1929 and entered Baylor Law School in 1932, passing the state bar exam the following year. Before his death, he endowed the Cherry Chair for Distinguished Teaching and the Cherry Award for Great Teachers. The award program underwent significant changes with the 2004 award, including the elimination of the secondary award, the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teachers. The program now awards a single prize, The Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. It is awarded every other year and features a prize of $200,000 for the winner as well as $25,000 for the winner's home department. During the off years, three finalists for the award will speak at Baylor and will receive $15,000 each, plus $10,000 to go to their home departments.

In addition to Armstrong, the other Cherry finalists were William Cook, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at State University of New York at Geneseo, and Dr. Robert Brown, Institute Professor in the department of physics at Case Western Reserve.

The American Boychoir performs at Carnegie Hall Premier!

Paul McCartney’s Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart)

The American Boychoir will perform in the North American premiere of Paul McCartney’s Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart), an oratorio for chorus and orchestra, on Tuesday, November 14, 7:30 p.m. at Carnegie Hall. This fifty-minute piece will be performed by The Concert Chorale of New York, The American Boychoir and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. The first half of the concert will include other works by Sir Paul. (NOTE: Paul McCartney is the composer of Ecce Cor Meum, but will not be performing with the boys.)

Anthony Smith, president of Magdalen College from 1998-2005, asked the former Beatle to compose a work celebrating the opening of the college’s new concert hall.

The first version of “Ecce Cor Meum” was performed with the Magdalen College Choir at Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre in November 2001. In a statement yesterday, McCartney, 64, said this early performance taught him a great deal.

“Eventually I made it all come together through correcting a lot of misapprehensions – a lot was learned before the Sheldonian performance, but a lot of it was learned afterwards,” he said. “If it had been a Beatles song, I would have known how to do it. But this was a completely different ball game.”

“Ecce Cor Meum” is McCartney’s fourth classical album. His first, “The Liverpool Oratorio,” was released in 1991.

The UK premiere will take place at Royal Albert Hall in London on November 3. A recording entitled Ecce Cor Meum was released in the UK on September 24 and includes Kings College and Magdalen Choristers. (The work was composed in celebration of the opening of the new concert hall at Magdalen College, Oxford.) A video about the recording can be viewed at http://www.paulmccartney.com/main.php. Click on the link entitled Ecce Cor Meum – NOW OUT!

American Boychoir comes to town

By Cheryl Sherry
Post-Crescent staff writer

In a sheer stroke of luck, The American Boychoir will perform Sunday at Faith Lutheran Church in Appleton.

"It is just awesome the way it happened," said Bob Unger, director of worship at Faith Lutheran and conductor of the Appleton Boychoir's conert and senior choirs.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to work with them," said Kevin Meidl, conductor of the Appleton Boychoir's Ambassador Choir. "We took a tour to Princeton, N.J. (in Spring 2001) and went to their campus and were in residence with them for a full day. We value very much their expertise and their long history of making great music and are excited about having them come to town."

The American Boychoir School has called Princeton home since 1950. It was founded 68 years ago in Ohio by Herbert Huffman, who believed the experience of performing great choral literature at the highest professional levels could have a profound effect on the academic, social and moral development of boys, especially in the middle school years. The school recruits and trains only the best choristers from across the country, and is the only nonsectarian boys' choir in the United States.

The traveling boy choir features 28 boys in grades 4 through 8. They have performed and recorded with world-class artists and ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and opera superstars Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman. While the choir has appeared on radio and in television and film, they are most recognizable for their participation in the "True Colors" commercial campaign for Kodak.

Most recently the choir sang "America the Beautiful" at the 9-11 commemoration held at St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, which was attended by President Bush.

Funded by the Music Enhancement Fund of Faith Lutheran Church, the Appleton appearance comes between a recording session with the St. Olaf Choir in Minnesota and a performance in Chicago.

The appearance will also create a learning opportunity for members of the Appleton Boychoir, who will house the visitors, welcome them at the concert and do an afternoon workshop with them Sunday.

"And we will potentially try to do some shared songs with them, some joint repertoire," Unger said. "It's an awesome opportunity for the Appleton Boychoir and the community at large."

Said Meidl: "We feel very privileged and excited about the chance to have such a fine professional choir in town. We hope Appleton supports this by coming out in strength to hear the very unique sound of a boy choir — not only a boy choir but one that has achieved international acclaim for their performances and recording."

Original article can be found at:

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/APC05/610190662/1033/APCent

Sixteen Choristers Receive Gold Records

The American Boychoir Concert Choir recorded a track entitled Remember for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's 2004 album The Lost Christmas Eve. Each of the 16 boys received a Gold Record in the spring of 2006 to commemorate sales of more than 500,000 copies of the CD and cassette tape.  Sales are certified by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The Lost Christmas Eve features the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s (founded in 1996 by Paul O’Neill)  trademark symphonic rock, fusing elements of hard rock, Broadway, R&B and classical music into a unique blend of original compositions and Christmas standards.  It is the final work in a trilogy of rock operas that also includes Christmas Eve and Other Stories and the platinum selling The Christmas Attic. Released in 2004 on Lava Records and distributed by Atlantic Recording Corporation.