By Staff
NEW YORK, NEW YORK  Some of the members of the Quitman High School Chorus, who will be performing next Sunday at Carnegie Hall, practice with director Cissi Majure as they get ready for the trip. They are, front row from left, Adam Harper, Heather Richardson, Emily Daniels, Jessica Lee, Ginny Patton, Jessica Conner, LeAnne Turner, Amber Lewis, Sara-Clarie Lightsey, Ashley Smith, Amber Lewis, Megan Stanley, Angela McDaniels, second row from left, David Bonner, Yancy Whitaker, Scott Davis and Barry Howard. Photo by Steve Swogetinsky/The Meridian Star
By Steve Swogetinsky/The Meridian Star
Feb. 26, 2001
QUITMAN  The day members of the Quitman High School chorus have been looking forward to comes at last Thursday as they leave for a trip to New York City and a singing engagement Sunday night at Carnegie Hall.
Members of the Quitman High School chorus have a chance to make this trip once every four years, and have done so for the past 16 years.
This trip, the chorus will be mixed with high school choirs from Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee to form a mass choir that will perform Sunday night at 7:30 p.m.
Like Ginny, many students have seen their older siblings make the trip and then looked forward to the day for them to go. But this year, it a different twist for the Richardson family.
On the last trip, four years ago, the QHS chorus did a solo performance, and their pianist, Nadine Richardson, actually played the piano sitting on the stage at Carnegie Hall.
Richardson is accompanying the chorus, but won't be playing on this trip. However, junior Heather Richardson is among the Quitman students slated to sing.
This is a time when pictures just don't tell the whole story, according to her mother, Nadine.
Nadine remembered how nervous she was before the start of the concert.
Nadine added that the tradition will likely continue four years from now with her son, Jeremy, who is now in the junior high chorus and is planning to make the trip. The entire Richardson family loves music and, in fact, performs each weekend as a gospel group.
This year, the chorus will perform six songs and two will be sung in the foreign language in which they were written.
The chorus will leave Quitman early Thursday morning, and will arrive in New York City about 3 p.m. In addition to practicing and singing at Carnegie Hall, they have numerous activities planned including a cruise of New York Harbor, going to the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, and taking in a Broadway play.
The chorus will return home late Monday night.
Steve Swogetinsky is regional editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at sswogetinsky@themeridianstar.com.