Choir plans Valentine's dance

Palo Verde High singers to raise money for trip to cathedrals of Italy

The Palo Verde High School Choir is mixing up a recipe for romance Feb. 13 with a four-course fund-raiser designed to help the students tour and sing in the cathedrals of Italy.

The concert choir will travel to Italy in April, but Valentine's Day was the perfect opportunity to decorate the school's cafeteria with sheer fabric and candlelight and invite the community to enjoy a catered Italian dinner and a program of love songs. The dinner, silent auction and raffle will help approximately 60 students earn the $2,200 each it will take to tour Venice, Rome and Florence, singing in cathedrals.

For musicians, acoustics in the world's oldest places of worship provide the most inspiring stages.

"It's a big thing," said Courtney Edelman, 18. "Some of the ones we've been accepted to, and the ones we're still going for, are famous cathedrals."

Some pieces practiced by the choir are as old as the cathedrals the students will visit.

"We're going to the places these songs are meant to be sung at," said Nelly Diaz, 17, choir president. "It's really special. It's historical, fulfillment. Just to have the songs live through generations and generations."

The Basilica St. Maria Maggiore in Rome and the Basilica de San Marco in Venice will be two of the stops on the trip. Lesa Ramirez, choir director, said she wants her students to experience a European performance, which is like nothing the students can find in America.

"One of the things is to go back to where the choral music they're required to sing came from," said Ramirez. "When you finish a song, (European audiences) allow it to exist, to hang in the air. There's a silent appreciation for it. In music, it's called 'the moment.' And moments are hard to find."

The choir's Italian repertoire lent itself to the fund-raiser. While guests enjoy antipasto, salad, ziti and dessert, catered by D'Amore's Famous Pizza Connection, choir members will perform solo and group serenades tableside of traditional, old and Italian love songs.

"We get to entertain, and we get to practice our pieces," Diaz said.

Restaurant and store gift certificates, a $400 package for teeth whitening, concert tickets and other items will be available during the raffle, silent auction and door prize giveaways. Raffle tickets are $1.

"It should turn out pretty nice," Diaz said. "We have a lot of nice things."

"I was expecting to get a lot community involvement, but I didn't think it would be this fast," Edelman added. "It keeps building."

In between rehearsals, event planning and preparing for Italy, students are required to finish weekly reports on the places they will visit. While it is a performance tour of Italy, Ramirez said she hopes her students get more out it than just good Italian food.

"We're all history teachers in our own right," Ramirez said. "Our world continues to get smaller. I think it's so important that we appreciate other cultures."

The Palo Verde High School Choir's That's Amore Valentine's Dinner Dance and Fund-Raiser is scheduled for 7 p.m., with doors to open at 6:30 p.m. inside the high school cafeteria at 333 N. Pavilion Center Drive. Tickets are $25 per person; $45 per couple. There will be no tickets available at the door, and space is limited. For tickets, call 228-7630.

Those interested in table sponsorships, or donating raffle or silent auction items may call 799-1450, Ext. 4050 or visit the choir's Web site at www.paloverde.org/choirs.


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