Chamber Choir to Sing with Susan Boyle

Tonight at the Midland Theater, East’s chamber choir will sing with Grammy-nominated singer Susan Boyle. Although the chamber choir has performed at numerous events in the past, this will be their first performance with an internationally-known performer.

Choir director Ken Foley first found out about Boyle’s performance after receiving an email from Debbie Allen, the Shawnee Mission School District’s (SMSD) fine arts coordinator. The email originated from Boyle’s team in London, and was sent to the choir directors of the five SMSD high schools. The email asked for a group of 26 kids to sing backup for Boyle at her concert, or to just send one school’s chamber choir.

“I asked the choir, you know, if they wanted to do it,” Foley said. “And they jumped at it. So I sent back an email and we got it.”

Each member of the chamber choir was required to sign a confidentiality agreement. The choir is forbidden to talk about the songs they’ve been rehearsing for the concert, to describe the songs, to describe the setup of the show or order of the concert, or to take pictures of the stage or the process of putting the concert together. However, they can each take pictures with Boyle prior to the concert.

At 4 p.m., the 24-member choir will arrive at the Midland where they will begin rehearsing their songs by themselves. At five, the choir will eat dinner at Chipotle, which will be paid for by the Choir boosters. From six to seven, the choir will finally rehearse with Boyle.

“We have to be a gospel choir, so that’ll be interesting,” Chambers member Clara Martin said. “We’re not really used to singing that way, but we have to be all gospel-y and energetic for the songs we’ll be singing. So that’ll be fun.”

The concert will take place at the Midland Theater downtown. The doors open at 6:30 and the concert starts at 7:30. According to Martin, anyone who buys tickets prior to the concert while wearing a Kansas City Royals jersey will get a free ticket.