American choir visiting Sicily and Malta

"Sing! Kanta! Canta!" is the theme of the 2009 international performance tour that is bringing 43 young singers from Akron, Ohio, USA, to Malta up to Monday.

The choir is directed by Arlene Jacobs, teacher of choral training at the Summit Choral Society, and is the top ensemble of this privately funded non-profit music school.

The simple word and concert theme Sing! sums up the joy of bringing people together through music. The choir brings a repertoire of classical and modern works from European and American composers and also an original composition written especially for the journey to the islands by American composer Dorn Younger, who will be joining the choir on tour. When a collaboration with Schola Cantorum Jubilate of Gozo emerged, the American singers added a composition by Maltese composer Paul Portelli to their repertoire.

After three concerts in Sicily, the SCS Touring Choir arrives in Malta tomorrow and will be the featured guest choir for the 6.30 p.m. Mass and a benefit concert to aid the Richmond Foundation at St Helen's church in Birkirkara.

On Thursday afternoon, the American students will be visiting the Johann Strauss School of Music in Valletta for a meeting with members of the school choir and staff.

Gozo is the destination for the singers on Friday. After sightseeing in the morning, the choir heads to the national shrine of Ta' Pinu for a performance and to meet members of the Gozitan choir Schola Cantorum Jubilate (SCJ). The choir's last performance will be at St John's Co-Cathedral on Saturday at 6 p.m., when the singers will be the featured guest choir for Mass.