Haitian choir sings to rebuild

• Haitian Boys Choir

A choir of Haitian boys visits River Falls during a United States tour. Submitted photo
• Haitian Boys Choir

A choir of Haitian boys visits River Falls during a United States tour. Submitted photo

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Efforts continue locally and around the world to help Haiti after the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake there in January 2010. That includes the Haitian Boys Choir and Chamber Ensemble holding a benefit concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18., at Ezekiel Lutheran Church, 202 S. Second St.

Everyone is welcome to come, listen and stay afterward for a reception. The event with intermission should last a an hour and a half to two hours.

The ensemble is known in French as the “Les Petits Chanteurs,” translated as ‘little singers.’ It’s comprised of 30 boys, accompanied by 10 others including a small orchestra.

The Boys Choir presents a mix of Haitian music and asks for a free-will donation.

Local missionaries who’ve done work in Haiti for 12 years, Curt Larson and Pat O’Malley, are helping with local coordination for the boys’ trip.

Larson said about the music school from which the choir comes, “They lost everything.”

Proceeds from the concert go toward rebuilding and restoring the Holy Trinity Music School in Haiti. Before the earthquake leveled them all, Holy Trinity included school buildings, plus an associated cathedral and orchestra hall.

The Boys Choir arrives in River Falls the day before the concert and tentatively plans to visit the middle and high schools to perform a mini concert, as well as interact with French students at the high school. Local educators are helping coordinate an exact itinerary for the local-schools visit.

The choir leaves for Madison the day after its River Falls concert.

The Haitian Boys Choir and Chamber Ensemble, “Les Petits Chanteurs,” formed in 1960, first visited American in 1984 and has made 11 other visits to the states.

During 2012, the group will visit perform concerts in 34 other communities.

At its peak enrollment, the Holy Trinity Music School had 1,000 students, 45 teachers, an elementary and high school and the music school.

Choir members now perform in a temporary building on the grounds where the cathedral used to stand, as well as in many tent cities.

Music school staff members provide basic instruction in general music classes that begin at kindergarten and include music initiation, voice, winds, brass, strings and piano. The Music School operates during the afternoon and on Saturdays, and includes various beginner, intermediate and advanced orchestras and ensembles, as well as Les Petits Chanteurs for boys and young men.

By audition, boys may join the Petits Chanteurs at age 7. The choir accepts young students from elementary schools throughout the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.