A Look Back at the Fall/Winter 2018 Season

Here is a recap of
recent outreach performances
from September 2018-January 2019

by Carrie Wesolowski

[All photos by Frank Asencio]

Choir members as they watch clients dance during a performance at YAI in November, 2018.

"You have travelled to 50 places together,” Facebook recently declared of me and another Peace of Heart Choir member. I later thought to myself that It was considerably more than that.  We may not have logged frequent flyer miles but we have passed the litmus test of all good travel experiences—meeting new people and reaping the rewards that come with human interaction—the experiences that enrich our lives and change us for the better.  We have travelled to spots around the New York City area—averaging around 24 venues each season-- as part of our very special group, Peace of Heart Choir, singing to those who need the music. Our music. Music we select each season. It’s important to look at where we’ve been to know where we’re going. Eleven outreaches this past season together creating new memories while doing what we all love to do—sharing the universal language of music with our audiences. Here's a brief glimpse of our travels.

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The choir performs “Lift Us Up” on The High Line.

9/12/18 The High Line:  Rain couldn't dampen our spirits as we took refuge in a covered area under the Chelsea Market Passage on the High Line, performing our first outreach of the Fall 2018 season in remembrance of 9/11, to a very enthusiastic audience including a familiar face in the audience, former Peace of Heart Choir soprano Naomi Frerotte. We performed on 9/12 with a foggy NYC skyline as our backdrop. We sang in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks, but we also sang in the spirit of moving forward together that 9/12 has come to symbolize. During the performance, the smiles appeared, and the rain disappeared. One audience member came up to me afterwards to ask me more about our group and tell me how much she loved the music.

10/21/18 Mt. Sinai/St. Luke’s: We sang on a locked ward of Mt.Sinai/St.Luke’s to an audience of patients who were battling mental illness and/or drug addiction. At first, it seemed that the staff didn’t expect us, and they were surprised that we were there to sing. Several patients came alive singing along with us--one patient thanked us with a gentle fist bump as we left and said that we had to come back. As for the staff who didn’t know we were coming, it was a pleasant surprise to them as they smiled and grooved to the music and seconded our male audience member’s call for a return visit.  

Choir director René Galván, on guitar, leads the choir in “Oye Como Va” at YAI.

11/2/18 YAI:  It is always such a great experience singing here—YAI is truly the unofficial Peace of Heart Choir fan club. We have a very special relationship with YAI as they brought us our baritone Anthony. We’ve visited them regularly for many years, and they also staff the snack table at our benefit concerts. They are always so happy to see us and we were so happy to be there and sing for them. This wonderful organization supports people of all ages with developmental disabilities in achieving the fullest life possible by creating new opportunities for them. For those of us who have been here before, we recognized many of our audience members. We visited with our old friends and caught up on special events in their lives including their latest baby photos. At the end, Renè led us in an impromptu “Oye Como Va” that electrified our audience and had them dancing along. 

11/14/18 Visions at Selis Manor:  This organization for the blind provides an adapted learning environment and meeting place for youth, adults and seniors which offers support groups, computer training, adapted activities, volunteer and social work services. We have sung here several times before. This time we sang at a weekday lunch program. Our audience was appreciative and many were visibly moved. One woman told us about the choir that she had belonged to in her youth. One man, his voice choked up with emotion, took my hand and thanked us for the music and told me that we sounded beautiful.

11/17/18 Village Care:  This is an assisted living facility in Midtown West that provides post-acute care, managed long-term care and community-based services for seniors. We performed during lunch, and our audience was visibly affected by our music—one woman tearing up at one point. We got a chance to speak to the residents afterwards. One man seated in an armchair outside was particularly nostalgic when talking about our concert, how the music brought him back to another time. He recounted stories of the past. It was lovely how the music meant something so personal to him. 

12/5/18 Mercy Home: We have a special relationship with this venue, a network of group homes for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The former church where we performed is used as a community center, a place the residents come for recreation and enrichment programs. We have performed here several times before and our soprano Michael Anne used to work here. It is always such a pleasure to sing in their small chapel with its wonderful acoustics and to see our audience members’ smiles and this time was no exception. As we entered, they gave each of us colorful shapes cut out of construction paper for a chance to win sweatshirts with artwork by the residents. They always have a special musical treat for us too—their very own musical group Melodic Soul performed for us, and for a short time we shifted from performers to audience. But this time they had an added treat for us—as they dimmed the lights, the unveiling of an art project amidst the setting of the cavernous chapel. The light show felt almost psychedelic in nature and there was a certain magic with the lights ascending and descending the artwork in the dark until the lights connected from side to side and “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” was revealed in its entirety.

The choir at JCC, the Jewish Community Center.

12/8/18 JCC: We performed in the lobby of the JCC on the Upper West Side, as part of their Shabbat R&R program. The JCC has been a good friend to us over the years. Observing the rules of the Jewish Sabbath, we performed a cappella, without instruments or even a pitch pipe to find our starting notes. Children and their families took in our music engaging in some lively chatter in the background. We gave out Peace of Heart Choir key chains after the performance to a very appreciative audience who thanked us for our music. 

12/20/18 Hope Lodge: Amidst the backdrop of a beautiful Christmas tree adorned with New York City-themed ornaments, we sang at a holiday meal for cancer patients and their families who stay at Hope Lodge for days, weeks, or sometimes months while they are in town for treatment at area hospitals. The group sang along with us on sing-alongs, including a young girl singing along to “You Are My Sunshine”. At the end of the concert, a woman in a wheelchair getting off the elevator asked if she had missed the concert. A small POHC group who had been waiting at the elevator that would soon grow a bit larger began to sing an impromptu version of “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” our official theme song. The woman began to sing along and thanked the group as everyone parted wishing each other “Happy Holidays”. There was a tear in many an eye after she parted ways. 

12/22 Housing Works: A New York City-based non-profit providing services to those fighting AIDS, drug use, and homelessness, we’ve sung at other Housing Works venues before but this was the first time we ventured to this downtown Brooklyn location. We sang in the basement where the walls were covered with holiday decorations. We performed for a very small but appreciative group that had gathered for lunch. One woman was especially enthusiastic-- not only did she sing along with us but she hugged several of us afterwards. 

1/9 Edie Windsor SAGE Center:  Our tenor, Wilfred, has noted that he is no stranger to SAGE as he has attended SAGE socials before. This was our second time performing here but this was my first time that I noticed the picture behind the reception desk as I got off the elevator—a picture of an elderly woman with both arms thrown up in the air triumphantly with a beaming smile across her face and the words SAGE/Advocacy & Services for LGBT Elders with the tagline underneath: We refuse to be invisible. And that is exactly what I saw as we sang for our audience—vibrant, involved individuals who expressed their love for our music—a man in the second row who visibly sang along appreciatively to “Singing for our Lives”. A woman in our audience sang along with me all the lyrics to “You Are My Sunshine”. You could really feel the connection we had made with this audience.

1/17 National Council of Jewish Women: We have sung for the lunchtime meetings of this group several times before, and one member here, Norma, has even become our unofficial booking agent, calling us regularly with ideas and performance opportunities. This year we participated in a program which promotes healthy aging, Council Lifetime Learning’s 2018-2019 Gerson Cultural Arts Season through our music. Norma gave us a warm introduction as usual. Gary told our audience a bit about our mission and who we are. We sang for an audience of seniors and several caregivers. The Heartbeats (an unofficial girl group created by choir members for our semi-annual cabaret nights) even reprised an arrangement of favorite, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”. Gary encouraged our audience by saying that the only thing we like better than singing is our audience singing along with us. As Gary estimated percentages of our audience singing along, I later joked we should coin the term “Garyometer” for this purpose. Again, we gave out Peace of Heart Choir key chains at the end of our performance and received positive feedback from our audience. This performance wrapped up a wonderful outreach season!

We look forward to another season of travels--not far in terms of distance--but reaching those who most need it, living alongside us.

Come join us for our upcoming public performances:  first up on March 13 at 5PM--Sing for Hope at Port Authority 625 8th Ave (bet 40 & 41 St), our Benefit Concert Performance on June 2 at 4PM--Alvin Ailey Center, 405 W 55th St (9th Ave), and Make Music New York on June 21 at a time/location TBD.

Ah, the power of music and the reciprocity of goodwill that keeps our heart beating and reawakens our soul in the affirmation that everything is gonna be alright.

Looking Forward to Another Harmonious Outreach Season, 
Carrie Wesolowski
Alto 1 

Each year, on or near the anniversary of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, the choir performs a public concert. On September 12, 2018 we performed on the High Line in New York City.

At Rivington House

It was a long, trying day. I was running late. I had no working cell phone or home Internet among a host of other things--and then I walked into Rivington House and a lady with HIV in a wheelchair shouted out to me with a broad smile as I got onto the elevator, "You look so pretty." She put a smile on my face and put everything back into perspective. Everywhere there were signs to be aware upon entering if you had a cold or an infection. This put everything in perspective too. To the residents at Rivington House with HIV/AIDS, getting the common cold can be a life and death matter. I made my way to the recreation room in the Penthouse where Rene was rehearsing with a nice-sized group of Peace of Heart choir singers with all groups pretty well-represented. There was a small audience already present as we warmed up. The acoustics in the room were absolutely lovely as Rene was quick to point out.

And so the outreach with a small audience of fewer than 10 people began with a lovely rendition of Wanemo introduced by Enuma whose father had written the song, with a spirited duet by Gail and Leslie. Next up was "Downtown" with an introduction by Larry (for Pearl) as Pearl's roommate Christie Baugher was responsible for this arrangement and Pearl had suggested the song this season. "Downtown" felt light and free with lovely vocal support from Lenore and I think it was perhaps the first time we had performed it in an outreach so far this season.

"Morning Song" was to follow introduced by Nancy with Rene providing fine support on haunting FIRST NATION (Canadian) flute. Next I introduced the sing-along Michael Row the Boat and invited the audience to sing along with the chorus part, "Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallejulah"! I saw several audience members, particularly a man sitting towards the back start to bob his head and mouth the words. Barry then delivered an intro to our homage to Charlie Chaplin, "Smile" and Peace of Heart Choir delivered a solid rendition.

Next was "Paz y Libertad" introduced by Alejandra and Pokarekare Ana introduced by Evelyn. The sing-along "Rock-a My Soul" seemed to engage the small audience. One woman who sang along with me had the most colorful beads around her neck--some even resembled prayer beads, perhaps. I commented that I liked them. In response, she smiled and showed me her wedding ring and I was touched.

"Mas Que Nada" introduced by Rob in a lovely dedication to his mother as it was her favorite song. I know she would have enjoyed our version as it was spicy with fine vocal support from Nancy and Alejandra. Ruth introduced "Let There Be a Peace on Earth, a nice way to end the concert and obviously appreciated by the same gentleman who liked "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore." Siyahamba was to end the concert. We took a bow and exited the recreational room. What a great outreach it was!

- Carrie, Peace of Heart Choir Singer

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn’t take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you’ll join us at a future concert

At Fountain House

Fountain House is a supportive community center for people living with serious mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. We warmed up and sang in the dining room, where they had urns of ice water with lemon waiting for us.

This audience took a while to loosen up, but once they did, they were definitely involved. Songs they especially loved, judging by appreciative hoots as well as applause: Over The Rainbow / Wonderful World, This Land is Your Land, and Aquarius (with Wilfred doing the honors). During Give Us Hope, I saw a man listening with his eyes closed, as if he was absorbing the meaning of the song.

When Rene said we were getting near the end of the concert, they said, “No! We want more,” so we did Rock-a-My-Soul, Peace Salaam Shalom, and Let There Be Peace. “Bravo!” they shouted when Rene signaled us to bow. Then they invited us to stay for refreshments.

This concert was significant for POHC, because we premiered three songs: Over The Rainbow / Wonderful World, Chanukkah in Santa Monica, and Samiotisa. There were some bumps in Rainbow, but nothing major. This was very empowering.

- Peace of Heart Choir Singer

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn’t take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you’ll join us at a future concert.

At Rivington House

Saturday afternoon, June 15th a smaller group of choir members gathered at Rivington House, a home for AIDS patients, where we sang in the penthouse, a very nice venue.  Here our audience was smaller, but the concert was just as beautiful.

The three sopranos held their own wonderfully and the audience thoroughly enjoyed the songs and joined us in the sing-alongs.  We did rousing renditions of New York/ New York, Feeling Groovy, Aquarius, Siyahamba, and  Stand by Me, along with a gentler Die Gedanken and the addition of Tumbalalaika.  We ended with Give Me Hope and Let There be Peace on Earth to much appreciation from the audience.  We could all feel what a lovely gift music is for folks who are struggling.

- Peace of Heart SopranoIt has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At The American Cancer Society

On Tuesday, June 11th, we sang at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, a residence for out-of-town families of cancer patients, where we sang in a lovely open room that has a wall of windows and a good piano.  With a large choir turnout we were able to share our songs with passion and vigor and the audience was deeply responsive.

Our audience started small, but grew as we sang, and in the end there were at least a dozen people.  Many sang with us during the sing-alongs, and they clearly knew many of our other songs. There was a very strong connection with them as we sang and we could feel them drinking up our words of hope and encouragement and reminders of joy--even though this time in their lives is particularly stressful.

After the concert they were very appreciative and some stayed around for a while to talk to the choir members.

- Peace of Heart Soprano

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.

At Rivington House

On Tuesday, December 18, POHC visited Rivington House on Manhattan's Lower East Side. After showing our photo IDs to security and receiving our bright red visitor stickers, we were instructed to press PH in the elevator. This brought us to the pent house on the fifth floor. It consisted of two large rooms, one with chairs set up in rows and a grand piano covered with a red Christmas cloth, the other with physical therapy tables complete with pillows. We stored our coats and bags near the PT tables, and Tenor Anthony’s mom put out the pizza-with-everything she had brought for us. Back in the first room we did our warm-ups as a few staff members made final adjustments to the chair arrangement and someone on the loud speaker announced a Hearts Voices concert (meaning us) in the pent house. The residents--some using wheelchairs, others using canes, some walking without assistive devices--dribbled in as we were still running through a few bars of each song, deciding what to sing.They took their seats and watched intently, so we explained that this was just the rehearsal. It was fine with them—they seemed to like this taste of what was to come. One guy shouted out that he remembered us from last year.

Five minutes later, we began the real performance.As always, Siyahamba got us off to a rousing start. This audience loved everything we did. They clapped. They sang along. When we got to the line "gonna-shake-hands-around-the-world" from Down By the Riverside, and were making our way through the audience, a woman said “Happy Holidays” to me while I was singing and shaking her hand. René gave the audience instructions on how to join us for Little Bitty Pretty One, and they followed him to the letter, even to the softer and softer fade-out at the end. When he gave the final cut-off, they did so exactly on time! Tenor Wilfred and Soprano Gwen did a great job on the solos--without microphones.

Lily (former choir member, and the one who was the contact for this gig) slipped into the back of the audience while we were singing the third or fourth number. So when we got to the closing song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, I invited her up to sing it with us.

A woman in the front row thought I was inviting her up, and she came to stand next to the altos. This woman hardly smiled throughout the concert, but clapped and sang along from her seat. Now, standing in front with us and facing the audience, she still didn’t smile, but she knew all the words and kept her eye on René and did everything she was supposed to do as a member of the choir. René caught her eye to let her know he knew she was up there and that he was including her. After the applause, while we were still standing before the audience, she went back to her seat. Though she didn’t say anything, we could tell that this had given her a lot of pleasure. A nice reminder of how our mission to bring music to those in need includes allowing their voices (and hearts) to join with ours.

- Peace of Heart Alto

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At the Park Armory Women's Mental Health centre

It was a sunny and brisk this past Saturday, as I was approaching the Park Avenue Armory Women's Mental Health Shelter for POHC's latest concert. I'm used traveling to the shelter now, since I've performed there before with POHC. I saw some fellow POHC members entering the building. After a short elevator ride we made it to the third floor where we set out coats and bags in the pantry. From there, I could overhear René leading the Choir in voice warm ups in the cafeteria across the hall, where we were also to perform our concert.

Some of the shelter residents arrived in the cafeteria while rested our voices after the warm-ups. Soon, we were ready to perform. We started with Siyahamba, which we sang very well. The audience really liked it.

Then we sang Peace Salaam Shalom. We tried to get the audience to participate they didn't know the words; I think they liked the song anyways. Our third song was Od Yavo. We did get the audience to clap along with this song. Then came Down By The Riverside and several choir members went down to the audience shaking hands when a catchy lyrics "I'm gonna shake hands around the world..." started. Next was Little Bitty Pretty One with yours truly singing solo along with my fellow Tenor, Alex.

Then we did This Land was your Land. We usually have the audience singing with us, but the lyrics were not passed around, so the audience didn't sing it as much. They seemed to enjoy it regardless. We moved on to Imagine, then Hafinjan with Soprano Cheryl doing the solo. She has one great voice there. Toward the end we sang our Channukah song, Light One Candle, then a 9/11 commemorative song, Give Us Hope. We closed with our theme song, Let There Be Peace of Earth, with Soprano Deb and myself singing the solos. The audience loved us, and they thanked us for the performance we did for them, which was wonderful.

-Peace of Heart Tenor

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert. 

At St. Luke's Psychiatric Unit

On a beautiful fall Sunday, the Peace of Heart Choir visited St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Morningside Heights, near Columbia University. The lone staff member eating lunch in the first floor cafeteria said she didn’t mind our warming up within feet of her table, so we made ourselves at home. Then we went upstairs to the day-room of the psychiatric unit.

As always, our pre-concert arrangements interested the audience—the re-arranging of chairs, the moving of the piano, René’s tickling the keys and pronouncing it a "fine specimen." Then René introduced the choir, and Gary introduced the South African hymn, Siyahamba, inviting the audience to determine whether this was in Zulu or Africaans.

René started his drumbeat, and we were off. No one weighed in on the language question at the end of the song, but they were obviously engaged. Starting with the next song, John Lennon's Imagine, we invited them to sing along with any of our numbers. No one did, except for the actual sing-alongs, Down by the Riverside and This Land is Your Land. But many clapped along or swayed, and all seemed interested in the introductions.

A few patients walked in and out during our performance, but there was a core who stayed for all eight songs. And though we were a bit sparse on some parts, POHC is nothing if not adaptable. A soprano joined the altos, a first soprano sang second, and, for our Spanish song, Nanita, René sang with the basses. At the end of the concert, we mingled with the audience, all of whom thanked us for coming and said they enjoyed it.

One of the nurses told me she like the a capella songs best, because there was more of a connection with the audience. She also said she loved the songs with the drums. Another staff member asked us to come back for Thanksgiving and Christmas; our Steering Committee Co-Chair, and tenor, Gary talked to her about scheduling for next year.

Before we went our separate ways, we gathered in the street under the St. Luke’s sign, and on of our newer sopranos, Noella, posed us with our black folders in our left hands and took our picture for the website. Post-performance smiles at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.

-POHC Alto

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.

At St Luke's Psychiatric Unit

On Friday, Peace of Heart congregated in an alcove of the lobby at Roosevelt Hospital on the West Side of Manhattan. After the whole group arrived, we headed to the Volunteer Services office, where we warmed up before going to the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit to perform. With the help of the staff, we moved the very interesting piano (painted all over with flowers and supported by two paperback books, one under each front leg) to where we wanted it.  Then Rene tested it by playing various classical snippets, to the amusement of the patients who were there early and watched the set-up procedure.  The staff arranged chairs in rows, we arranged ourselves behind the piano, and the rest of the patients came in. We opened with Peace, Salaam, Shalom and followed with Higher and Higher, after which a woman called out, “Didn’t Jackie Wilson sing that?” (yes!), and so a dialogue was started between the audience and the Choir that went beyond our introductions, all of which they listened to with interest.

We did the first sing-along early on—This Land Is Your Land—and everyone participated, either by singing or clapping.  When it was over, someone shouted, “Yay, Woody!”

René’s bamboo flute introduction to the Cherokee Morning Song has been a hit with all our audiences so far, and this one was no exception. When we finished the piece, one of the patients asked what the words of the song meant.  Rene told him: “I am of the great spirit.” (Another version of the translation is thought to mean "our hearts and spirits are strong.")  The patient said that the main lyrics, “We n’ de ya ho,” sounded like “When they are whole.”  He seemed pleased when we told him that was a wonderful observation.

Guantanamera was another hit, with clapping and singing not only by the patients, but by the staff who were standing in the doorway. And when we finished the fade-out ending of Vela, someone said, “That’s gorgeous!” After, we closed with Let There Be Peace, we did the second sing-along, Down By the Riverside, and when that was over, we got a standing ovation from the patients!

They were a wonderful audience, each listening in his or her own way, and we all came away feeling good about having sung there.

- Peace of Heart Alto It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.

At Fountain House

The fifth-floor wellness unit has been refurbished since the last time we were at Fountain House;, with artistic tube-lamps hanging from the ceiling. What remains the same is the airy feeling of the room with large north-east facing windows and the pots of fresh basil and parsley on the windowsill. We had an audience of about five for our warmups, and I saw some smiles when we got to "the-tip-of-the-tongue-the-teeth-the-lips." We finished the warmups by running through some songs, with René stopping us here and there to re-do a few measures. The audience seemed interested in these rehearsal proceedings. We began the concert proper with our rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, and as we progressed from song to song, the audience grew. By the end of the concert, it numbered fourteen.

We have sung for a Fountain House audience before. They are not effusive, but they are definitely with us in a low-key way. They paid attention when René introduced the Cherokee Morning Song by demonstrating his bamboo flute—showing them how it doubles as a weapon and explaining the way he made it. A few swayed back and forth as we sang the song, with Jeanette—mom of Peace of Heart choir Baritone Anthony—filling in on the shakers. Barry introduced the Hungarian Rhapsody by saying, “There are three famous B-named composers in music: Bach, Beethoven, and...” Several people shouted out “Brahms!”

Larry reached not only the audience, but the choir as well, when he read all the words of the POHC theme song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, as if it were a prayer. The room was hushed, and every eye was on him, including those of a man who had been facing the back of the room and reading a book. An uplifting, spiritual feeling pervaded the room. There was a brief silence after Larry finished, and then we began singing the words he had just spoken. It was a moment that could not have been rehearsed. After the concert, the audience members wanted to take pictures with us, so we posed with them.

Soprano Angela Szpak put on her Miss Plus New York banner, and they flocked to take pictures with her, too.

We all left with a good feeling.

-Peace of Heart Alto It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn't take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you'll join us at a future concert.