Actuando en NY en el Rose Theatre, Lincoln Center

Dear SF Girls Chorus Family and Friends, Our performance ensemble is now back in San Francisco, and our Chorus year is winding down to a close. I am excited to share some of my favorite moments of our recent New York trip with you.

New York was my first official SF Girls Chorus tour and it was an exciting and new experience. I got to to stay with two different host families, the first with a girl from the Trinity Wall Street Church chorus, and the second with a Brooklyn Youth Chorus board member. They were both very kind and wonderful hosts. My Brooklyn Youth Chorus host took us to the Brooklyn Promenade to see the moon over Manhattan skyline on our first night in Brooklyn. It was an enchanting experience.

Upon arriving in New York, it had taken a while to realize, "Yes, I am in New York City!" It was the same with the concert on June 9. It was really only when we started rehearsals that day that I realized, "I'm doing this. In less than six hours I will be on stage, performing at Lincoln Center!"

As we ran through all our cues for the last time, and I desperately scrambled for a place in my brain to remember them, I thought about how fortunate I was to be able to be in such an amazing group with such supportive people.

And then, we were done rehearsing. As we walked on stage, I heard the audience of almost 1400 people cheering. The three songs we sang in the first section went by in a blur. But after we performed each piece, the composers cam onstage to thank us and bow. It was wonderful seeing the people whose music we had just performed so happy because of our performance.

One piece that especially stood out to me was by Aaron Kernis, Remembering the Sea. The piece is about terrorism, and it was a very emotional piece for many people, myself included. By the third movement, which is partially in French, I was tearing up. I noted that conductor Eric Jacobsen and The Knights seemed very emotional as well. It was hard for me to believe that just one song could unite a professional orchestra and a girls choir.

Rehearsing Aaron Jay Kernis' work with The Knights at the Rose Theatre, Lincoln Center

SF Girls Chorus in concert with The Knights and Brooklyn Youth Chorus at Rose Theatre, Lincoln Center for the NY Phil Biennial Festival, June 9, 2016. Photographs courtesy New York Philharmonic, Chris Lee Photographer

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At the end of the performance, after we left the stage and got high-fives from the conductors and other performers, we got to sign the special performer's wall.

Someday, I can't wait to come back and show my family and friends my name and remember the exceptional performance I took part in.

Call Kra-Caskey