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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, May 10, 2007

Youth choir celebrates Jamestown

Advertiser Staff

The Hawai'i Youth Opera Chorus will represent Hawai'i this weekend at the 400th Anniversary of America being celebrated in Jamestown, Va. The three-day event, dubbed America's Anniversary Weekend, celebrates the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Established in 1607, Jamestown helped create the legacies of free enterprise, representative government and cultural diversity.

The 47 students from Hawai'i will join with 39 other youth choirs from across the country to commemorate the anniversary in song.

A total of 1,607 young singers are expected onstage in the mass choir, along with more than 400 musicians from youth orchestras. Among the selections are: "America the Beautiful," "God Bless America," "The 1812 Overture" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

On Sunday, HYOC will also give a half-hour concert at Jamestown Anniversary Park. The group will then travel to Washington, D.C., for a Monday joint concert with the Children's Chorus of Washington. On Tuesday, the chorus will perform at the Navy Memorial and at the Museum of the Native American Indian.

The chorus has performed in Wales, France and the Netherlands, as well as Carnegie Hall in New York and Disneyworld in Florida. In 2005, the HYOC performed in a two-week tour of China.