Young People's Chorus of New York City to Reunite with Hiroshima Choir in Concert, 3/26

In a new Transmusica concert, designed to build bridges to other world cultures, the Young People's Chorus of New York City and Artistic Director/Founder Francisco J. Núñez welcome two choirs from Hiroshima, Japan - the Peace and Hope Choir and the Chamber Choir of the Elisabeth University of Music - to promote good will, peace, and friendship. The concert on Wednesday, March 26, at 7:30 p.m. at the Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village (365 Sixth Avenue) will also include The Ten, an all-men's ensemble from the University Glee Club of New York City, for an inspiring and entertaining program of music from several cultures.

This concert reunites YPC and members of the Hiroshima Choral Association, who have sung together on YPC's four tours of Japan, most recently, this past summer, when Hiroshima Choral Association hosted a reception for their American friends. While in Hiroshima, the choristers sang with each other, spent time practicing each other's languages, and enjoyed becoming reacquainted. The March 26 concert is first time they will sing together in the U.S.

The program on March 26 will include such traditional Japanese favorites as Hiroshima Kazoe Uta (a Hiroshima children's counting song), the Sukiyaki Song, Sakura (cherry blossoms), and Oiwake Bushiko conducted by Kenji Otani and accompanied by Kanzan Yamamoto.

Mr. Núñez will conduct YPC in Rainbow Tomorrow arranged by Jim Papoulis, Metsa Telegramm (The Woodpecker's Warning) by Estonian composer Uno Naissoo, Dona Nobis Pacem by Dominick DiOrio, and an upbeat hit from the "fabulous fifties," Rock Around the Clock. The Ten's a cappella program includes the Celtic folk song Down By the Salley Gardens based on the poem by W. B. Yeats and the James Taylor ballad Copperline.

In a moving finale, all chorus members will come together for John Lennon's Imagine.

A suggested donation is $10 at the door.

The Peace and Hope Choir of Hiroshima is an ambassadorial chorus of singers drawn from 117 ensembles in the Hiroshima Choral Association. This chorus, among whose members include those who lived through the 1945 bombing, uses the harmonious sounds of the human voice to share a message of hope for the future.

The Chamber Choir of Elisabeth University of Music from Hiroshima consists of students of Elisabeth University of Music and members of the Elisabeth Singers professional choir. In remembrance of the university's founding among the ruins of a destroyed city, the choir sends a wish of eternal peace in song.

The 20 men who make up The Ten have their roots in the 125-voice University Glee Club of New York City (UGC), founded in 1894 to preserve the tradition of male glee club singing. The Ten was formed in 1979, when 10 men from UGC banded together to expand their musical repertoire. The Ten subsequently doubled in size; however, the name has remained the same. The men of The Ten represent a dozen different colleges, and are alumni of such a cappella groups as Yale's Whiffenpoofs, Princeton's Nassoons, Brown's Jabberwocks, and the Hamilton's Buffers.

The Young People's Chorus of New York City was founded on a mission of diversity and artistic excellence 26 years ago by Francisco J. Núñez, a MacArthur "genius" Fellow. Each year almost 1,400 children ages 7 to 18 benefit musically, academically, and socially through their participation in YPC's afterschool and in-school programs. YPC is in residence at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center and has been recognized with America's highest honor for youth programs, a National Medal of Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.