The Junction City High School Chamber Choir has been selected to perform in New York City at the Lincoln Center of Performing Arts with guest Conductor Eric Whitaker.

The Lincoln Center is where the Metropolitan Opera sings.

Michael Brown, JCHS Choir Director, said that being selected is quite an honor. “Eric Whitaker is probably the most famous American choral composer currently, and he’s written over 35 works and has received Grammy awards and is also the creator of the virtual choir that you can see on Youtube.”

Ironically, it was one of Brown’s former students that suggested the current students audition for the experience.

“One of my past students actually said ‘Michael Brown, we need to audition for this’ and I saw a link from a company – DCINY – that is bringing Eric Whitaker in, and you had to fill out information and submit an audition” said Brown. “They initially closed the auditions because they had so many applicants go in and then you had to set up an appointment; and I set up an appointment to submit [an audition] and we used our state KMEA performance that we had from February…and we received a letter that we were accepted to perform.”

The trip to the Big Apple will be April 2018 and will also include a performance on the New York Philharmonic Stage.

Approximately 25 to 30 students will participate in the trip as well as five to seven chaperones. The cost is $1700 per person; fundraising efforts will begin in the near future for the trip.