From a modest beginning as an after-school program in the Marysville School District, the Northwest Boychoir has gone on to sing before presidents and governors, performed on movie soundtracks and entertained crowds from Westminster Abbey to SeaWorld in Florida.
This week, they present “A Festival of Lessons &Carols,” at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood.
The resume of this choir is admittedly impressive. But music director Joseph Crnko pointed out that these talented boys, who range from 7 years old to high school age, are still just that.
“When you see them in their robes they all look like they are born into a cathedral setting, but they’re just kids from all walks of life and all demographics,” Crnko said. “It’s amazing what they get to do. It really does open their eyes and helps them see that there’s a whole bunch of opportunity if you just put yourself out there.”
Some of the “graduates” of the Northwest Boychoir have gone on to Broadway, or pursued careers in the jazz or pop genre. The majority of the more than 200 singers, however, have come to the choir not for fame, but for “character building,” Crnko said.
Still, if you get to take part in making a movie, or singing on the latest game video, then that’s pretty cool too.
The Northwest Boychoir can be heard on the soundtrack of the 1992 film “Christopher Columbus: The Discovery,” with Marlon Brando. They also sang on the soundtrack of the 2004 release “Millions,” Crnko said.
Last year, the choir was hired to sing for a new exhibit at SeaWorld in Florida and the boys got to visit NASA. They’ve toured nationally and internationally a total of 16 times and served as the Official Singing Ambassadors of Washington under five governors, including Chris Gregoire. They often collaborate with the Seattle Symphony, Crnko said.
Their popularity is due in part to filling a niche that only a talented boys choir can fill. They’ve also earned a reputation as a choir that can get the job done because the members are taught to be “pretty solid music readers,” which pays dividends on projects that don’t provide the music ahead of time, Crnko said.
For those unfamiliar with the Northwest Boychoir, fear not. This music is accessible to a broad audience, Crnko said.
And performing something in a format like “A Festival of Lessons &Carols” makes it even more accessible.
Patterned after the Christmas Eve observance at King’s College in Cambridge, England, “A Festival of Lessons &Carols” is a performance where song and Scripture are blended: Nine holiday readings are each followed by a traditional carol sung by the choir and then by a congregational carol sung by the audience and the choir.
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