Carnegie Hall invite leaves Wichita students in fundraising scramble

How does the Mayberry Middle School choir get to Carnegie Hall?

It involves generous amounts of practice, but for the Wichita choir, the way to New York is paved by work outside of the rehearsal hall.

Mayberry, whose choir was invited to sing at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 2011, has been invited back to Manhattan for a March performance – this time at Carnegie Hall.

New York is not cheap, however, and Mayberry is a Title 1 school – meaning a significant portion of its students receive free- or reduced-price lunches.

Danny Darrington, director of the Mayberry choir, has set a fundraising goal of at least $50,000 between now and March, to help pay for his students’ trip.

“We’re really taking a gamble and I know that,” Darrington said. “It is kind of overwhelming but I for some reason think it can be done. I think the experience for these young people for me outweighs the overwhelming fact of raising this money.”

Why Mayberry?

Mayberry’s relationship with composer Greg Gilpin began in 2011 through a sort of “friend-of-a-friend” deal.

Fellow Shawnee Press composer Joseph Martin came to Wichita to work with a local choir, and relayed that Gilpin was looking for a good middle-school choir to perform in a choir festival in New York.

Gilpin specializes in choral pieces for schools and other younger singers.

Darrington submitted an extensive application, and Mayberry was chosen to participate in the 2011 concert at the Lincoln Center.

“As it was told to me, (Gilpin) is partial to this area of the country,” Darrington said of the composer, a Missourian. “Smack dab in the middle, our experiences are not like schools on the coasts.”

Darrington brought 23 singers and 10 parents/staff to New York that first time in 2011 – many of whom had never been outside of Wichita before.

“I can’t tell you what it did to me as a teacher to see them experience New York,” Darrington said. “I can remember standing on the boat (sailing past the Statue of Liberty) and actually crying. ... I had some tears in my eyes because they have never had an opportunity like that.”

Flash forward five years, and another concert was being planned. Mayberry didn’t need to put in an application.

The school was personally invited by Gilpin last summer to return to New York in March for a concert with five other middle-school choirs at Carnegie Hall.

Darrington at first didn’t tell his kids about the invitation.

“I said, ‘OK guys, we got an invitation to New York,’ and of course they went nuts ... but I actually know what that means – that means money, that means fundraising,” Darrington said.

Riley Sipes, an eighth-grader in the Mayberry choir, said she “had butterflies” in her stomach after every class upon learning of the trip.

“New York is a big deal, especially if you go with your best friends,” she said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Rhiannon Richardson, another eighth-grade singer, said she “couldn’t stop jumping around all day” when she found out.

“Most normal choirs don’t get to sing at Carnegie Hall,” she said. “It’ll be a really good experience to become more professional, if we want to. It’ll be really great memories.”

Raising the money

Darrington promised his students if they could contribute $740 to their trip, he would help raise the rest of the money.

With about 40 students and 25 parents and staff planning on attending the trip in March, that means a lot of money.

If possible, he’d like to raise closer to $80,000 and $120,000 between now and then, he said.

“We are hitting the pavement, hitting the airwaves – doing everything we can to try and get them to go,” Darrington said.

Mayberry’s Lady Panthers, an all-female choral group, have been performing at various gigs around town in recent months, including at the Mayor’s Tree Lighting last month, for exposure, Darrington said.

The trip to New York will be “life-changing” for his students, he said.

“It allows them to dream big and ... if they can go, it’s going to open up other dreams and aspirations that they’ve had in their life,” Darrington said. “I said to myself, I could not not try to give these kids that experience.”

The concert, put on by Distinguished Concerts International, will be March 19.

If they cannot raise the money required to go to New York, the students will have to find some way to pay for it out of pocket – or stay at home. Darrington is optimistic that won’t happen, while also acknowledging the difficulty of his task ahead.

“A lot of the money we turn in is non-refundable ... and we’ve already made the first payment,” Darrington said. “We just can’t turn back. It’s all-hands on deck – students, parents, everybody who’s going.”

Darrington said the trip is a chance to showcase a Wichita public school on one of the country’s most prestigious stages.

“We’re representing Wichita,” he said. “Anytime you can ... have an excellent group of really young people understand the fact that they’re representing their community, their school, and their school district – it’s a positive story.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2017 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Carnegie Hall invite leaves Wichita students in fundraising scramble."