Practice, Practice

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” the lost tourist in New York City asks a bystander. “Practice, practice, practice,” is the reponse. They say there’s a kernel of truth in every joke, and if you’re a young singer, choir practice may be the way to appreciate the punch line.

Angelica Cantanti, an organization of five choirs serving kids from grade school through high school, has performed not only at Carnegie Hall, but also on A Prairie Home Companion and twice at Italy’s Spoleto Festival, among others. To perform at that level, missing practice isn’t an option. “The kids understand that because they are part of a whole, they are required to be there,” says board member and choir mom Michelle Harper Lindahl, whose daughter, Margaret, joined the choir three years ago at age eight. “The directors are really great and teach the kids about working together, building self-esteem, and, of course, learning music.”

Throughout its twenty-six seasons, Angelica Cantanti has explored the theme “Let freedom sing.” This month the choirs sing about the freedom from fear. The program features music and a reading from Nancy Carlson’s There’s a Big Beautiful World Out There!, a children’s book written the day after 9/11; Minnesota composer Dan Kallman’s “Caged Bird,” based on Maya Angelou’s poem; and “Angels” by Nancy Grundahl and inspired by nine-year-old Hannah Helgeson’s poem in honor of her grandmother, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra violist Alice Preves, who died in November. The concert, says Angelica artistic coordinator Rita Docter, “is about what you’d miss if you stayed afraid.” May 6. St. Michael Lutheran Church, 9201 Normandale Blvd., Bloomington, 952-563-8572