A combined choir of St. Thomas teens won gold Wednesday at London’s WorldStrides Heritage Festival.
The 30 students from the choirs at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School and Charlotte Amalie High School left for London on Sunday to perform at the festival as the Harmonic Rays and Hawks Unity Choir. The choir’s performance was scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Choir mistress Jeanette Rhymer sent a text message back to the territory Wednesday evening.
"Good night from London," she wrote. "The London adjudicators’ score landed us in the silver award category but the Heritage Festival president felt that our performance was equivalent to gold standard and gave us the Carnegie Hall festival Gold Award Certificate."
The choir performed a blend of traditional and Caribbean flavored spirituals.
The jazz choir also performed, scoring in the bronze category which Heritage felt was equivalent to silver.
"We are very proud of them and their hard work," Rhymer wrote, concluding her message with, "The weather is nice and we have been enjoying the experience. Have a blessed evening."
WorldStrides Heritage Performances is a program that organizes festivals, bowl games and other customized events that allow student groups to show off their musical skills, according to its website. The London event gave participating choirs the opportunity to be graded by a panel of music professionals in categories that measure, among other things, tone, balance, blend interpretation, rhythm and intonation.