The Golden Belt Community Concert Association will present the All-American Boys Chorus as its last concert of the season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 16, at the Great Bend Municipal Auditorium, Lakin and Stone.
This GBCCA event is open to association members. No single concert tickets are available. Full-time students will be admitted for a $5 donation at the door.
The All-American Boys Chorus performs the best of America’s musical heritage, including the music of popular groups such as the Beach Boys and uplifting songs of American patriotism.
Headquartered on the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, Calif., the chorus is open to boys of all races, faiths and socioeconomic backgrounds.
The chorus has completed more than four decades of remarkable growth and significant achievements. The program is acclaimed for its musical excellence, and for instilling and fostering leadership skills and characteristics in its current membership of 120 boys and more than 1,000 alumni.
One objective of the chorus is to be musical ambassadors. The chorus has performed to standing ovations all over the world. Most recently, the chorus toured New Zealand and Australia in 2013, the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canada in 2014, and the U.S. East Coast in 2015.
Among the chorus’s TV credits are commercials for Mazda, Cartoon Network, Toshiba and KFC. The chorus has appeared with entertainers and artists including Josh Groban, Tony Bennett and Bob Hope. The All-American Boys Chorus has also shared the stage with noted statesmen and celebrities including five U.S. presidents.
Boys are admitted after completing an eight-week audition process. They must then train for an additional six to 12 months and learn the basic concert repertoire of 40 songs before being accepted into the concert chorus. The chorus conducts four week-night rehearsals and one Saturday morning rehearsal per week. Each boy attends two rehearsals one week and three rehearsals the following week on an alternating basis. Choristers are taught music using an adaptation of the Solfeggio method. The Chorus has produced five full-length albums.
For more information about GBCCA, visit the association’s website: www.goldenbeltcca.org.