RBC Choir to Perform at Carnegie Hall

The Red Bank Catholic High School Choir is in New York today signing at Carnegie Hall, having achieved the honor of being the only high school vocal group invited to be a part of the American Festival Choir.

The group is made up of 10 renowned choirs from seven states throughout the country, according to a release. In addition to selected Christmas carols, they will be performing the premier of the newly-composed “The Song of Christmas,” it added. Composers Phil Barfoot and Rebecca J. Peck recently spent the day at RBC to rehearse the choir.

The RBC choir is comprised of 50 students of all grade levels and conducted by RBC Music Director Shawn Mack, a 2005 RBC graduate, the release said. Mack, who has performed at Carnegie Hall himself, said he understands the excitement the students were feeling in the final days before the event.

“It is quite an honor to be asked to perform at Carnegie Hall and in concert with such talented people," he said in the released statement. "I know this is an experience our students will never forget.”

Last year, the RBC Choir was chosen from all the school choirs in the Diocese of Trenton to provide the liturgical music at the 2012 Eucharistic Congress Mass at the PNC Bank Arts Center, attended by over 1,000 Catholic school students.

In 2010, the RBC Choir won the NJ 101.5 Christmas Choir Contest, being voted the best high school choir in the state.

The choir will be singing 18 songs at Carnegie Hall.

“They sound great, and I am really looking forward to hearing their voices blend with the rest of the choirs there," Mack said of his students as the prepared for the event. "This is going to be an amazing night.”