Peace of Heart Choir Sings at the Amphitheatre
By Carrie Wesolowski
Photos by: Frank Asencio
The weather gods were with the Peace of Heart Choir as beautiful blue skies smiled down on us approvingly and we sang carefree with a song on our lips and in our hearts at the Amphitheatre atop the High Line…
We’ve sung at the Amphitheatre before but mostly at the 14th Street Passage...
And a group of us sang as part of The Mile Long Opera along the High Line in 2018..
But as Gary noted several times when he addressed our audience, we hadn’t done a concert like this in over 2 years… and we welcomed that warm familiar feeling back—our audience deeply engaged in our music….the camaraderie and joy we felt singing together…the smiles on our faces and the faces of our audience…
Our audience sat along the benches of the Amphitheatre, and also lined the balcony looking down at us on both sides. Some family members and friends of choir members who knew the words sang along—but most were probably hearing us for the first time—a nice-sized audience who greeted us warmly with applause. We gave our audience an opportunity to answer Gary’s invitation to sing along with our inspirational sing-alongs Lead With Love, I Woke Up This Morning, Lift Us Up and Peace Like A River. Rene and Andy accompanied us on guitar on several of the sing-alongs, Rene playing one of his trusted musical companions--a tiny red guitar.
Photo: Frank Asencio
Rene later noted how engaged our audience was.
Even the High Line’s itinerant Balloon Lady festooned with her own colorful creations couldn’t resist our charms and sat down for our last song and enthusiastically took photos...
In the middle of this urban oasis, New Yorkers, tourists, and other visitors put down their shopping bags and stopped to listen and smile and think as we sang of peace and hope and liberty and social justice in songs such as Amani, and Give Us Hope, Siyahamba, Singing for our Lives, One Day and Let There Be Peace on Earth.
At our backs, through the Amphitheatre's extraordinary window down to the street below, the site of daily people-watching, you can see the street signs below and a pizza shop sign with the elevated steel walkway above and the buildings that tower above it all.
Photo: Frank Asencio
You can also see Eduardo Kobra’s street art mural Tolerance featuring humanitarian icons Gandhi and Mother Theresa--the perfect backdrop to our songs of peace. As we sang, the mural could be seen behind us—characterized by bright colors just like our signature brightly-colored tops.
In looking at the smiles of our audience, a Mother Theresa quote comes to mind, "Peace begins with a smile."
In Peace and Harmony,
Carrie Wesolowski, Alto 1