Why the Chorus of Westerly is a Noteworthy Affair
For sixty years, the chorus has been a treasure for its community, for Rhode Island and even, on occasion, for the wider world.
Formed by George Kent in 1959, the Chorus of Westerly is the state’s largest community chorus composed of both adults and children. Photography courtesy of the Chorus of Westerly
One evening last summer, Jennifer Kushner stood in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, singing Mozart’s Mass in C Minor. “I glanced over and saw five of my seven children with me on the risers, all singing Mozart,” she recalls. That special moment — part of a twelve-day tour of performances throughout France and England — was one of many the Kushners have savored in their decade-plus involvement with the Chorus of Westerly.
Photography courtesy of the Chorus of Westerly
The chorus is a family affair for many of its members, including music director Andrew Howell. Howell, who joined as a preteen back in the 1990s, met his wife, Emily, in the chorus, and now the couple’s four children sing with the group.
The nonprofit organization has the distinction of being Rhode Island’s largest community chorus composed of both adults and children. “We’re unique in that we have kids and adults singing together all year long,” Howell says. “We grew out of the English choral tradition where adults and children would gather for evensongs.”
Founded in 1959 by George Kent, who led the group until Howell took over in 2012, the chorus is renowned for its level of professionalism. Children as young as seven (“They need to be old enough to be able to read words on a page,” Howell says) learn about musical history and theory. “We focus on giving them the tools to be independent, competent lifelong musicians in whatever aspect they choose,” he says.
Photography courtesy of the Chorus of Westerly
Some chorus members go on to careers in music education, while others make singing a lifelong hobby. There’s even a Tony Award winner among past members: Westerly native Andrew Burnap, who earned the award for his performance in the Broadway play The Inheritance in 2020, got his musical start as a youngster in the chorus.
A robust performance program, including this month’s Christmas Pops concert and next month’s Twelfth Night performance, makes the chorus a vital part of Westerly’s vibrant cultural scene. And while the European tour was the first in nineteen years, Howell hopes to make it a semiannual event.
On a recent afternoon, sixty or so youngsters from ages seven to sixteen gathered at the George Kent Performance Hall, the1886 former Catholic church on Westerly’s High Street. With its cathedral ceilings and old stained-glass windows, the church makes the perfect setting, visually and acoustically, for choral music.
With Howell conducting, the children sang, “Have you heard the sound of the angel voices?”
As their voices rose to the rafters, filling the old church with sound and sending shivers up my spine, I thought, “Yes, indeed I have.” chorusofwesterly.org
