"OK, this is really happening"; Davis High choir heads to Carnegie Hall

YAKIMA, Wash. — Leonard Bernstein made his major conducting debut at Carnegie Hall, Nina Simone and Miles Davis recorded live albums there, and on Monday 35 students from A.C. Davis High School will sing there.

It’s a big deal. They know that.

“There are no words,” 16-year-old junior tenor Dallen Gray said before an after-school rehearsal Thursday afternoon. “It’s the experience of a lifetime, you know? To go to New York and perform at one of the greatest venues in the country, it’s kind of intimidating, actually.”

The Davis Choir, which practices in a room lined with trophies from singing competitions, was invited to send in an audition tape for Monday’s concert, “National Fall Sing: Remembering 9/11,” last December by Carnegie Hall staff. Choir director Shannon Ruiz got over her shock at the invitation long enough to ask school administrators whether they could help pay for it.

“I teach in a poverty-stricken district,” she said. “I knew we could only do it if we got it paid for, or partially paid for. And they said, ‘If you audition and make it, we’ll fund it.’”

Ruiz found out in January that they had, in fact, made it. Davis was selected along with five other high schools from across the country. And the district made good on its promise, pledging to fund a 35-student trip. The local students will perform as part of a group featuring students from McIntosh High School of Peachtree City, Ga., and Washington Latin Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.

“I was shocked,” Ruiz said. “I was so excited. It was like, ‘OK, this is really happening.’”

For students such as 17-year-old senior Maya Voight, a four-year choir member and the group’s student president, the opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall represents the culmination of a journey. She’s always loved to sing and had taken lessons as a middle schooler, but she was a shy kid as a high school freshman. Working with Ruiz and her fellow students over the years helped her open up and learn to express herself. Now she’s ready to take on New York.

“This is something I’ve worked for,” Voight said. “We’ve all worked for it. We’ve put in extra rehearsals and long hours. We have five pieces we’ve been learning the past two or three months. I think we’re all ready.”

The group leaves for New York on Saturday morning and returns Tuesday. It’s a whirlwind itinerary that includes a visit to the Statue of Liberty and a viewing of the Broadway production of the musical “Wicked” as well as rehearsals and the performance itself.

While the students are excited about New York — the hotel, the restaurants, the Broadway show — they’re also intensely focused on being ready for Monday night. The other stuff any tourist can do. But playing Carnegie Hall is special.

“There have been a lot of important people who’ve played there,” Voight said. “We know how prestigious it is.”