By Dan Aceto

Staff Writer

For Edward Budway, senior and president of the Scarborough High School Choir, there are few places that offer the same acoustic experience as Washington National Cathedral.

“There’s nothing like it, it’s perfect,” said Budway. 

The choir will host a benefit concert Feb. 18 featuring the band Coos Canyon to raise money for its trip to sing April 10 at the Washington, D.C., cathedral.

Suzanne Proux, director of choral arts at the high school, said the opportunity is a privilege for students. The cathedral attracts chorale groups from around the world and is booked solid nearly every weekend.

“It is an extreme honor to have made it this far,” Proux said.

Proux said she first learned of the opportunity when the choir visited the cathedral during a 2003 tour of Washington, D.C. She said she was surprised when she heard a chorale group from England singing “Rejoice in the Lamb,” which her seniors had recently learned to sing.

“They were immediately captivated and just sat there thrilled by the acoustics,” Proux said. “And I thought to myself, ‘I wish my kids were up there, my kids can do this.’”

Shortly after, Proux said she contacted the cathedral about having the choir perform and made an audition tape with a hand-held digital recorder of the students singing in the high school stairwell.

Although auditions to perform at the cathedral are open to any chorale group, she said musicians must be able to sing an all- sacred, a capella concert program for 25 minutes.
 “For me, that is what separates the pros from the amateurs,” Proux said. 

Proux said the cost to send each student on the trip is $650, which includes hotels, meals and air and bus fares. She said she hopes next week’s concert will offset costs as much as possible for each student.

Since 2002, the choir has traveled once a year to perform at Washington, D.C, New York City, Boston or Disney World. Proux said this will be the second time the choir has performed at Washington National Cathedral. The first was in 2007.

Budway said this year several freshmen will travel with the group.

“Most kids haven’t had this kind of experience of not just singing in some random room,” Budway said.

Katelynn Collins, a senior and choir librarian, agreed.

“Their faces are just going to light up,” Collins said.

Although she said the experience can be stressful, she knows the choir’s hard work, dedication and energy will pay off.

“It definitely builds memories,” Collins said.

For many students, the trip is not only an opportunity to sing, but to see some of the nation’s most revered historic landmarks.

In addition to singing two concerts, one at the National Cathedral and one at the Armed Forces Retirement Home the day before, the chorus also will visit Mt. Vernon, Smithsonian Institution, Ford’s Theater, Washington National Zoo, Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington Monument, and tour the U.S. Capitol, Proux said. 

Julia Raffel, a junior, and choir treasurer, said she is more than excited for the trip.

“It’s only my second year in chorus. I’m stoked,” Raffel said. “I like singing and being on stage.”

Proux said the experience will be a memory students share for a lifetime and the choir will continue to rehearse as much as possible before the event.

“I have no doubts, they’ll be ready,” she said.

Staff Writer Dan Aceto can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 237.

::::

Box:

The benefit concert will be held 8 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Scarborough High School auditorium and feature the classic rock, soul and blues group Coos Canyon. Tickets for the event will cost $10 for general admission and $8 for seniors and children younger than 10. Tickets can be purchased at all Bullmoose Music locations, Starbird Music Shoppe and through the Scarborough High School Choral Arts Department at 730-5125. A silent auction will also be held at 7 p.m.