Singing Silhouettes

Pictured (left to right, back to front): Erin Parnapy, Caleb Calhoun, Jacey Donahue, Sydney Brown, Jason Hoehn, Hope Hersom, Hannah Van Skiver, Kelly Ireland, Stephanie Buell, and Justine Bloom.

Submitted photo and press release:

Congratulations to the 10 Byron-Bergen students chosen to participate in the prestigious Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Holiday Pops Chorus.

These students will join other top vocal performers from school districts across eight local counties to perform with the world famous Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Grammy-winning conductor Jeff Tzich.

"It's my last year," said senior Stephanie Buell. "I'm ready to go out with a bang with a great group of singers."

The students were selected via diverse criteria, including NYSSMA solo scores, experience singing in choirs, teacher recommendation, and overall musicality. Three of the selected singers also participated last year.

The students chosen to perform are sopranos Jacey Donahue, Hope Hersom, Kelly Ireland, Erin Parnapy, and Hannah Van Skiver, altos Justine Bloom, Sydney Brown, and Stephanie Buell, and basses Caleb Calhoun and Jason Hoehn.

"It's a tremendous honor," said Byron-Bergen music teacher and choirmaster Laurence Tallman.

All of the participating students study voice with Tallman and are members of the school's select chorus, the Singing Silhouettes. Despite the concert being almost three months away, the students are excited to get started. As sophomore Kelly Ireland put it, "We're pumped!"

The performances are: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 20; 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 21; 2 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 22; and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 23.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is located at 108 East Ave. in Downtown Rochester. Tickets are on sale at the RPO website here, or by calling the box office at 454-7311.