March 2, 2022,  Santa Rosa, CA – Twenty-six Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) singers will perform at Carnegie Hall on Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022. The Concert Choir and Chamber Singers students will travel to New York City for a five-day full concert residency program. They are joining Sonoma State’s Symphonic Chorus and the Reedley College Choir for this event. Jenny Bent, Director of Choral Activities at Sonoma State University, will be the concert’s featured guest conductor. A preview concert in SRJC’s newly renovated Burbank Auditorium, on March 16, at 7:30 p.m., will help raise funds for the student trip.  
 

“I am calling our concert on March 16 ‘Singing for Our Dreams,’” said Jody Benecke, Department Chair and Director of Vocal Music at SRJC. “They say that vocal artists often, ‘Sing for their Supper,’ so this is us singing for our NYC dreams!”
 

While in New York, the students will have rehearsals, one with an orchestra in Carnegie Hall before their concert. Then, accompanied by the New England Symphonic Ensemble, they will perform Brahms’ “Schicksalslied,” and “Dark Night of the Soul,” by Ola Gjeilo. They will celebrate their success with a post-concert dinner cruise around the Statue of Liberty.
 

Many students have tickets for Broadway shows and The Metropolitan Opera. Sophia Grace Ferar is going a day early to see her favorite Soprano, Ailyn Perez, in “Eugene Onegin.”
 

This will be Ferar’s second time singing in Carnegie Hall.
 

“I’m excited to go back as an adult,” she said. “Now, I understand the gravity of performing in a hall with such history.”
 

“‘Dark Night of the Soul’ is an incredibly moving piece of music,” said student, Rachelle Alexander who has been singing with SRJC for more than 10 years while raising 12 adopted children. “I am looking forward to performing this with our extremely talented director, Jenny Bent and with an orchestra in a magnificent hall!” 
 

Tickets for Singing for Our Dreams are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/288073675117. Cost: $12 for General and $6 for Students, Seniors & Children