Posted on: Sunday, July 4, 2004

Children gather for chorus festival

Advertiser Staff

The Fourth Annual Pacific Rim Children's Chorus Festival begins Tuesday and continues through July 13. More than 250 children from eight choruses throughout the United States will attend the one-week festival to experience the cultures and music of Pacific countries.

Beginning at the Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus and the Polynesian Cultural Center, the children will participate in the music, dances, instrument-making, language and storytelling of Polynesia with native speakers and instructors.

The festival will culminate in two concerts, "Angelic Voices: A Musical Voyage Around the Pacific." These concerts are open to the public and designed as events that entire families can attend.

The first is at 7 p.m. Saturday at BYUH's Cannon Center auditorium. Tickets are free but call for reservations: 293-3509.

The second concert is at 4 p.m. July 11 at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets are $20 general, $15 seniors/military and $8 children 12 and younger. Call 591-2211 for more information.

Concert performers will include the full children's chorus, Keiki Halau Hula Olana, Kenny Endo's Taiko Center of the Pacific Youth Group, Filipino Tinikling Dancers, Korean folk dancing and the Kahuku High School Vocal Motion.

The festival is hosted by the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus (Nola Nahulu is chorus director) and features Henry H. Leck, a noted clinician in choral techniques, the child's voice and the boy's changing voice.

With education budgets tightening, organizers point out, music programs are often the first to go. This festival provides an opportunity for children from across the country to participate in a multicultural musical event.