Princeton Girlchoir to present ‘Making a Difference’ concert
By Keith Loria, Special Writer
With a message that “everyone can make a difference,” the Princeton Girlchoir will present its sixth annual Children Making a Difference benefit concert at 3:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 17 at Trinity Cathedral Trenton.
The idea for the yearly event came from the choir’s associate director Melissa (Keylock) Malvar, who held the first concert in memory of her mother, Adrienne Todd Keylock, who died from cancer in 1998.
”November is the anniversary of my mother’s death and I always spent the month sad, and my husband, also a choir director, said that instead of missing her, I should spend my efforts on something in her honor,” Ms. Malvar says. “My mom was a social worker and her hobby was to sing in the church choir, so the concert was created in her honor.”
Each year, a different non-profit it chosen and the concert raises funds for it, but the concert also puts a lot of emphasis on teaching kids that you don’t need to be a grown-up or rich to help people.
”The children will experience first-hand how using their time and talents to help others makes the world a better place. The choristers use their joyful, powerful, collective voices to help others,” Ms. Malvar says. “Anyone can use their abilities, time and talent to help others,” Each year when we do the actual concert, we collect donations, but we also collect tangible items that will help the organization involved that year.
This year the concert will raise funds for One Simple Wish of Trenton, an organization that grants wishes for kids in foster care. To help, the choir members organized an October collection of more than 250 personal care items for the Ohana Project at One Simple Wish.
For the concert, the choir’s Grace Notes (the beginning choir) and Semi-Tones (advanced intermediate) will perform, along with guest choir, the Philadelphia Girls Choir, directed by Nathan Wadley.
”Every year we invite a guest choir to participate with our choirs and we are excited to have them be a part of this,” Ms. Malvar says. “This is a new choir and Nathan was actually the first guest conductor for us when he conducted the Training Choir of the American Boychoir School.”
The format of the concert follows what has been in place since the beginning. There’s an opening welcome, The Grace Notes sing a few songs, a presentation will be made by One Simple Wish of Trenton, the Philadelphia Girls Choir will sing, followed by the Semi Tones.
”We will conclude with all the choirs together singing the annual song we close with every year, which is ‘Let There Be Peace on Earth,’” Ms. Malvar says. “It’s breathtakingly beautiful. It’s very emotional. Right before we sing that, we announce the amount we raised that day and the amount of tangible items we have collected.”
The Girlchoir was founded by Emeritus Jan Westrick in 1989 as an after-school activity for a small number of girls interested in choral music. It has grown into the area’s premier training and performance choir for over 200 girls aged 8 to 18. Currently, there are 40 singers in Grace Notes and 55 in The Semi-tones, and it is comprised of girls from over 38 different schools in the Princeton area.
The Princeton Girlchoir is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, so the event holds even a stronger meaning to all involved.
”One of the way we are celebrating is by reaching out and helping newer girls choirs, so throughout the year, we have worked with various organizations and girls choirs that are less than three years old,” she says. “The Princeton Girlchoir makes powerful, graceful and joyous music, and music makes powerful, graceful and joyous girls. We are dedicated to presenting extraordinary treble music, while building artistry, confidence, and a life-long love of singing together.”
Since the first Children Making a Difference concert five years ago, more than $10,000 has been raised for area non-profits.
Admission is by donation, with a suggested donation of $10 per person. All donations directly benefit One Simple Wish. For more information, go to www.princetongirlchoir.org or call 609-688-1888.