Musical Youth of California (MUSYCA), a nonprofit children’s community choir, recently traveled to France to perform in several prestigious locations as a part of its annual international trip.
The 12-day trip, which included traveling to a variety of major cities in France and performing in a collection of diverse settings, was another opportunity for the choir to showcase its talents.
Members of the MUSYCA choir include children of all ages from across the greater Los Angeles County area, including two vocalists from Malibu.
“We have somebody who is as young as four and as old as 18,” Artistic Director and Founder Mikhail Shtangrud shared, noting the choir’s belief that a child of any age has the opportunity to find a place with MUSYCA.
Shtangrud expressed his enjoyment of the trip and the opportunity to perform in an interview with The Malibu Times.
“We participated in a choral festival of the Provence region,” Shtangrud said. “We went to Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Casis, Paris and Chartres.”
While MUSYCA certainly had a busy schedule of performances, the choir also took opportunities to enjoy the beautiful sites of France.
“We were gone for 12 days, it’s a very fast-paced tour. We stay only a night or two in each place,” Shtangrud said.
In addition to independent performances, the choir enjoyed collaborating with local choirs in the cities of Beaulieu-sur-Mer and L’Estaque.
The choir performed in two historic cathedrals as well: Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral and Chartres Cathedral. These performances gave the choir an opportunity to experience the cathedrals in a unique way.
“When we went to Paris, we had a concert all by ourselves at the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was quite spectacular experience for all of us,” shared Shtangrud.
A French publication, L’Echo Republicain, recognized the talent of the choir and its alluring performance, printing a review that praised the young choir.
The paper hailed MUSYCA for their incorporation of different works — a combination that captivated audiences at Notre Dame.
“A rich performance with works by Faure and Gershwin, American folk and traditional spirituals, which seduced the audience,” the paper read.
MUSYCA participants appreciated the opportunity to play in such a historic place, an opportunity not provided to many.
“We had the excellent Anna Krendel, the executive director, playing the organ,” Shtangrud explained. “We sang in front of a huge audience, it was quite an honor to sing.”
While on the tour, MUSYCA performed with another choir from the United States.
“In the Chartres Cathedral, we got to perform in front of a wonderful local audience and we also collaborated there with a choir from Washington, D.C. — the Children’s Chorus of Washington,” Shtangrud said.
While the trip may have been centered around the choral festival, MUSYCA took the opportunity to get the most out of the 12-day adventure. In addition to the performances, the children, along with parental chaperones, enjoyed sightseeing throughout the trip, especially in Paris.
“We [did] lots of sightseeing as well. In Paris, for example, we took a tour on the river, visited the Louvre and toured the Palace of Versailles,” Shtangrud shared.
While many of MUSYCA’s performances are local, the choir takes an international trip each summer. In 2014, the group traveled to Europe and performed in Austria as well as the Czech Republic.
In addition to their international travels, the MUSYCA Children’s Choir traveled to New York in 2014 and had the opportunity to perform at the world-famous Carnegie Hall.
MUSYCA has also worked with a wide variety of different artists on their latest projects, including Christopher Cross, DJ Mustard, Dave Koz, Alexander Palmer (Fuego), Raury and Luke Christopher.
One of the choir’s most recent features was an appearance at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards where they had the chance to sing and dance alongside artist Aloe Blacc.
MUSYCA includes a large number of singers with different abilities, who are then separated into smaller groups, depending on age.
“We have close to 100 members altogether. We have several groups that meet at different times each week,” Shtangrud explained.
MUSYCA began auditions for the 2015-16 season on Aug. 12 and will continue through September.
Shtangrud emphasized that children of all ages and skill levels are welcome to audition.
“We believe that anybody can learn how to sing,” Shtangrud said.
For more information or to sign up for auditions, visit MUSYCA.org or email sing@MUSYCA.org.
