As our eighth season comes to a close, I am struck by how much we’ve accomplished this past year. Most notably, we performed for the second time with the Symphony of the Americas, joining forces with the Master Chorale of South Florida to celebrate the Master Chorale’s tenth anniversary. Under the direction of Dr. Joshua Habermann, director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, we made our Dade and Palm Beach debuts singing Rutter’s Mass of the Children. Another great honor was our combined performance with the award winning St. Mary’s College Women’s Choir in March, where we premiered a newly commissioned work by acclaimed composer Paul Carey. The Lyric Choir had a fantastic performance and workshop in Disney, and the Apprentice Choir had their first annual workshop and camp day, under the direction of Dr. Burbach form Broward College. And for the first time, the Girl Choir of South Florida welcomed six year old budding young singers to the stage at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. We sang for Holy Cross Hospital, John Knox Village, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, Junior Achievement, the Special Olympics, and had our first wedding performance-all “extra” events beyond the major performances in December and May! Finally, during the second week of June, our touring choir will sing at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. John the Divine in New York City, arguably two of the most sought-after performance venues in the world.
The goal throughout all of our activities this season was to create beauty in the world, and to encourage all of our girls to see the beauty within themselves. As the text in Letter from a Girl to the World states, “In my heart, there are hopes and dreams, and all different beautiful things…are you listening with you heart when we’re sharing ours… have you given us a chance to make you proud?” I know I speak not only for myself and the rest of the staff, but for all of our parents and families, when I say that our girls most definitely made us proud. I can’t imagine a more beautiful group of girls and young women-they all have a light that they generously shared with each other and our community each and every week, and I am honored to be their director. Happy summer, and we’ll see you in August!
