PARIS — A select group of students from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School have been invited to join the All Maine Honors Choral that will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City next April.

“It’s going to be a lot of work,” Dennis Boyd, director of choirs in grades seven through12, said. “It’s going to be their experience.”

And what an experience it will be.

About two dozen students, several parents and School Administrative District 17 staff, including Music Department Chairman Kyle Jordan, Boyd and a health teacher, will travel to New York City from April 14 to 18, 2016. They will join choruses from across Maine, which have been invited by Dr. Richard Nickerson, director of choral activities at Windham High School, and Rob Westerberg, music director at York High School.

“Well, personally to me it means a ton,” Christian Ricci, who will be a senior next year, said. “It is a world-renowned stage that very few people get to stand on and even less have the chance to entertain a crowd.”

Ricci, who has participated in the music program since his freshman year, said the opportunity has an even broader meaning to him.

“This whole concert is dedicated to Maine and I’m eager for the opportunity to represent my home state and community in America’s biggest city,” he said.

Nickerson said the chorus was selected through invitation.

“(We) identified strong choral programs in the state and came up with a list of schools to invite,” he said. “Dennis Boyd is a leader within our professional organizations and has a reputation for excellence. We knew the students of Oxford Hills would benefit from this opportunity.”

Nickerson, who served as a guest conductor for Distinguished Concerts International New York, which sponsors the honors choral group, asked Westerberg to join him for the Carnegie Hall event. Westerberg conducts the Portland Community Chorus that Nickerson takes over in December when it becomes the Magic of Christmas Chorus.

“We are hoping to put between 200 and 250 Maine singers on the Carnegie stage,” Nickerson said. He is a past Maine Music Educator of the Year, Maine Distinguished Choral Director of the Year and founder and conductor of the Windham Chamber Singers. “We’re really looking forward to this opportunity and putting Maine talent on the world stage.”

The SAD 17 board of directors gave the go-ahead for the trip at its meeting last week.

It will cost between $1,100 and $1,200 per student. To raise money, the Oxford Hills Music, Art and Drama Booster Club will hold a mattress sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 30, at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, 256 Main St., Paris. Mattresses will be sold on-site at a 20 to 60 percent discount.

Boyd said the selection of Oxford Hills music students is the result of “years of excellence” in the department. He credits Cynthia Wescott for her vision in helping to create the Music Department and Sara Johnson Bailey, who helped create the environment.

“It’s been a culture. The community has always celebrated the arts,” Boyd said.

The trip will include an opportunity for the students to explore local art and culture and hear and perform in the hall built by Andrew Carnegie and designed by New York City architect William Burnett Tuthill. Tuthill had never designed a concert hall before he took on the project, which includes a performance area that has five levels, seats 2,804 and has legendary acoustics.

The New York Herald described the building on its May 5, 1891, opening night as “a great temple of music.” Two legends of the composing and conducting worlds — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Walter Damrosch — were on the stage.

The proposed list of students selected to perform on the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage include:

Sopranos: Nicole Walker, Teaka Carro, Breahana Jenkins, Sarah Gardner and Natalie Livek.

Mezso-sopranos: Kristina Newcomb and Chastity Pike-Reiny.

Altos: Nikki Moore, Maria Commoss, Jasmine Rondeau, Mckayla Marouis and Krystin Paine.

Tenors: Dakota White, Mitchell Lisowski, Ben Andrews and Skyler Kimball.

Baritones: Jacob Reis, Logan Hallee and Kale Churchill.

Basses: Caleb Grover, Dimitrious Dibiase, Noah Willette, Dan Garber, Christian Ricci and Charles Lang.

“These students are the ones who continue to do the work. They make a commitment of excellence. They’re building something bigger than themselves,” Boyd said.

Donations toward the cost of the trip may be made through the Oxford Hills Music, Art and Drama Boosters, care of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, 256 Main St., South Paris, ME 04281.

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