Support the Alaska Live series of live music and conversation on KUAC is made possible by a grant from Design Alaska, Design Alaska, strengthening the community through support of the arts.

Welcome to KUAC's Alaska Live I'm your host, Lori Neufeld.

And today, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the KUAC studios, the 2025 choir jamboree.

And Janice Trumbull you are here to introduce at least the first part of what's going on here.

It's so great to have the men's and women's choir here at the KUAC Studio.

Yeah.

Well, we're really excited about that.

The Northland Center for the Choral Arts, which is the umbrella organization over the Northland youth choir, which has been around for 25 years.

And we also have a men's and a women's choir and a bunch of other things.

Anyway, we have been doing a summer jamboree for a number of years, but last year there was a few scheduling conflicts within the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

And so they gave us permission-- the person before, the current executive director-- gave us permission to go ahead, include and make our program a little more expanded and a little bigger so that, here we are, 2025 Summer Jamboree.

Here we are.

Yeah.

And for today's Alaska Live, you've brought in some select members because we've got limited space at our KUAC studios.

So the whole choir jamboree mass choir is not here.

But the men's choir is here.

And the women's choir is here.

And actually, not all of the men and not all of the women either because there's more than the space would allow.

And then there's the big mixed choir as well.

Yeah.

Well, Janice, would you like to introduce Byron?

Because I think he is the conductor of the men's choir.

And that's who we have next, correct?

Right.

This is part of our men's ensemble.

And we brought up from Texas Dr.

Byron McGilvery, who is conducting them and teaching me a bunch of stuff along the way as well.

So come do your-- Well, everyone loves men's voices.

Yeah.

You just haul 50 men out there.

And already, everybody is happy.

But this group of men has been worked very hard and done very well.

And we're going to be doing a piece called "Tell My Father," which is about a young man.

It comes from a musical called the Civil War, which was debuted in Houston at the Alley Theater in 1998, then went to Broadway in '99.

And it's called the Civil War.

But this is a young union soldier who is mortally wounded.

And he's reflecting on his life, on what he was taught, and what he perhaps would want others to learn.

[singing, "tell my father"] (SINGING) Tell my father that his son Didn't run, or surrender That I bore his name with pride As I tried to remember You are judged by what you do While passing through As the rest 'neath fields of green Let him lean on my shoulder Tell him how I spent my youth So the truth could grow older Tell my father when you can I was a man Tell him we will meet again Where the angels learn to fly Tell him we will meet as men For with honor did I die Tell him how I wore the blue Proud and true, through the fire Tell my father, so he'll know I love him so Tell him we will meet again Where the angels learn to fly Tell him we will meet as men For with honor did I die Tell him how I wore the blue Proud and true, like he taught me Tell my father not to cry Then say goodbye [applause] Bravo.

That was really, really gorgeous.

We're going to be using violin on this.

It calls for a solo violin with it.

That goes so well with the time period of that piece too, to have a violin fiddle in there.

If you remember the Burns.

Ken Burns, the Civil War.

Yeah.

It's a moving piece.

Choral music speaks to us because not only is it the beautiful emotional impact that it has, but it also is the impact of concrete ideas and the pictures that it can bring.

And-- Byron, did you say that that piece is from the Ken Burns Civil War documentary?

No, it's from a musical that was written.

This was written by-- Murphy.

Murphy wrote-- yeah, he wrote the libretto.

And Wildhorn wrote the music.

And so it's a new musical that very few people know.

It has about, I think, 15 entries into it.

And it's the story of the Civil War.

It was so beautifully performed by select members of your men's choir here today on Alaska Live.

It's great to have you here too.

I think of, Byron, you coming up during the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival at times.

And now you're coming up for this jamboree.

Are you staying for the Arts Festival, too?

I don't get to do that this time.

I started coming the very first time, it was as a jazz to classics.

Joe Scott had a jazz festival one year.

And then she started Jazz to classics.

And I came up for that in for something like almost 40 years, I did that.

In short hiatus, and then back into it.

And so this is home, second home.

It is so nice to have you home.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And I saw in the paper here, there's somebody shares your last name in the men's choir.

We've got Byron McGilvery and then there's a Troy McGilvery.

Yes.

And is he here today?

Yes, he's right here.

Troy, it is so nice to have you all the way from Texas.

Yes.

The Dallas area.

The Dallas area.

And what's it like singing in the choir with your brother as the conductor?

Well, I came last year.

And even though we're brothers, the first time I ever worked under him.

So it was quite eye opening.

I saw sides of him I didn't know existed.

And neither did any of the rest of the members of my family.

[laughter] Is that signs that were good or sometimes troubling.

I've had to think a while.

Really, though, it was outstanding, and the people here are just terrific.

And Alaska needs a little Texas flavor.

Oh, yeah.

And so I'm glad that I'm here.

And how is it to come to the biggest state in the union?

It is great to be here.

[laughter] Nice little dig there.

And something else you have that's bigger than we have.

Yeah.

Mosquitoes.

Oh, our state bird, you mean, Troy.

And they've almost carried me off.

I'm going to weigh about 20 pounds less when I go home.

Troy, have you and Byron always been singers all your life?

Yes, our family, our mother started playing in church when she was just a girl and never had any lessons.

And so there's eight kids and two parents.

So most of us sing.

Some can't carry a tune in the water bucket, probably.

So once she got old enough to maybe direct the church choir, was that what she was doing?

No, no.

She played the piano.

She played the piano.

So it might have been a requirement that the McGilvery boys get up there and be in the choir.

Well, if you could call it a choir.

[laughter] Well, it is so nice to have you here.

And so this is the second year you've been under the direction of your brother, Byron.

It's good to be bossed by somebody else.

So who's the older brother?

I am.

You are the older brother.

I'm the handsomest, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Radio crowd, he's the only one up at the mic right now.

So I'm going to have to agree with Troy here.

Byron's not up in the mic right now to refute this.

And well, it's so great to have you here for the second year in a row as the older brother being directed by the younger brother.

That's great.

Welcome.

And thanks for coming on to Alaska Live.

It's so wonderful to have you here, too.

Well, thank you for having me.

You're so welcome.

I've got others on the list that are willing to speak for their part in the choir.

I've got Jim.

Oh, Jim's coming out from the back row here.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Have you ever been on Alaska Live before?

I never have been.

One of those things that I never thought I would be doing.

Check that off your list now.

Have you been singing for quite a bit of your life?

Singing came kind of late.

I've been part of the Fairbanks Peace Choir for a few years.

Oh, of course.

--I had some free time because of a canceled field projects about three summers ago.

And I checked out Byron's festival, first day of the festival choir.

And I learned so much that first night I signed up immediately, as well as one of his classes.

And so yeah, it definitely opened a new world for me.

Remind me of your last name, Jim.

Harigus.

Harigus.

It is so great to have you here.

And the fact that you can give us two weeks of your evenings to singing with the jamboree, that is really awesome, too.

And you said that you had-- Two weeks well spent, yes.

Two weeks well spent, yes.

And you're one of the tenors or bases back there?

I am a baritone.

A baritone.

Excellent.

Let's see, who else do I have on my list?

I have a Dave Swanson.

You did that wonderful solo during that Civil War piece.

Have you been singing most of your life, or has it come to you later?

I've been singing in an amateur way for years.

But I've been in small church choirs and that kind of thing, but not-- very few solos.

Those have mostly been as a part of these festivals that we have here in Fairbanks just a few times.

Right.

And so are you lifelong Fairbanks then?

30 years.

Oh, that's-- yeah, I'm getting up to 30 years also.

So I'm feeling it.

But it makes you unfit to live anywhere else, I feel like.

[laughter] Right.

Is this your first time with the choir jamboree?

Well, I've sung in this choir that Byron conducts two or three times now.

It's always a really inspirational experience.

What's it like to be conducted by Dr.

Byron McGilvery?

It's entertaining and it's a learning experience.

And he has a charismatic conductor.

He attracts good singers and it gives you the opportunity to be surrounded by them while you sing.

And if you've ever been in a concert and loved that live sound, it's really something to have them all around you as you're singing.

Is that part of the draw to being part of a choir like this?

Most definitely.

Yeah.

Kind of takes your troubles away.

That's right.

For a while, it's just only the music.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And did you say that you had sang with church choirs, too?

And so-- Small church choirs, that sort of thing.

That's really wonderful.

And how did you get to be the one to do the solo on that piece?

It was just really beautiful to hear you.

Byron, I think is a good judge of how to conduct a piece.

And so I have to trust his judgment, even if I'm not so sure of myself.

Did you know that piece before he brought it to the choir?

No, all this stuff we learned in two weeks.

It's an intensive experience.

And you just are humming those tunes all day long after you've practiced them every day.

Well, Dave, it is so great to have you here, and thank you so much.

Thank you.

Well, we're going to get Byron up here to talk about his men's choir for just a bit more.

So we heard that there'll be some sing alongs.

That's still the plan?

Yeah, on the "Down By the Riverside," there's one spot-- it's arranged by John Rutter-- and there's one spot at the end, there's one verse that the major part of the chorus is up above.

And the audience is invited to sing along.

They will have leaders.

I mean, we're going to have some ringers in there.

And I think at the beginning, we'll tell them what the words are going to be to where they'll know which of those verses it is.

But it's very repetitive.

And so it's not difficult to accomplish.

It's already going on in my head right now.

So I think, you know, got it.

Those earworms.

They tend to get there and they're difficult to eradicate.

Yeah.

And I really love that you have that joyous singing with everyone, for the audience too at times, for your show.

That's part of the performance I think people are going to really enjoy too.

We emphasize that, really, we do this for ourselves because it is an expression that-- music is that expression that takes over where grunts and words even or whistles or alphabets or in any other form of communication leaves off.

It expresses the emotional part that really has no language to describe it.

And so that, I think more than me or more than perhaps even the piece, but that experience that one experiences when you're doing it, I think that is the attractive thing in the drawing thing.

And what we tried to do, pardon me, is then communicate that to an audience to where they come with us on our journey.

They feel with us.

They don't feel for us, we hope.

But they feel with us.

And they're feeling what this music is saying.

So in the end, we're conduit.

We're important in only that we are able to as a body accomplish this.

The other thing is that singing being such a-- it's a language thing too.

And it is a communal thing that making music with people that have like feelings, like emotions, like passions.

And so it's a communal thing that we experience as well.

And so we want to make it an experience for the audience and not an event.

It's not a ball game.

We want it to be something that if we leave and only have some good music, then I think we failed.

We need to communicate something deeper and more lasting than just some pretty sounds.

Yeah, it is an experience.

And it can be-- emotions can wash over you and then you get to participate some with "Down By the Riverside."

So everybody practice that up a bit.

No, you don't even need to because you'll do some practice rounds with them, I'm sure.

I think that when the men sang what they sang, I think that the ladies who are singing going to sing for you and do such a beautiful job with Janis Koppel later.

I think that they had some of that emotion, even though that perhaps some of them have heard the piece.

I think they had that.

I was very moved.

Being here and as the men's voices were just washing through the studio.

I mean, sometimes I think people may break into tears of joy at times too.

Absolutely.

And that's wonderful.

When did you catch the conducting bug?

I started on December 2 of 1956, at the first Methodist church in our hometown with Ms.

Ursel Knight picked me to conduct my doctor, and I didn't know what I was doing.

So I started-- Your doctor was in the choir.

And the insurance man and the lawyer.

And so I could say the blind leading the blind, but they weren't blind.

She may have been by having me do that, but-- They had a conductor before you.

When you were 16 years old.

So I've been doing it for 30 years.

Yeah.

And now you've got your brother in this choir, too.

We are exactly three years apart.

We were born the same day.

What?

That's wild.

I mean, different years.

Yeah, three years apart.

Yeah, that's wild.

Otherwise, it's been a long birth.

No, yeah, yeah.

Oh, man, that's so funny.

That was a good timing.

You only have to celebrate one time a year for the two of you, for Troy and Byron, the McGilvery boys.

Yes.

So are you still conducting choirs back in Texas?

I've retired, except that once in a while I'll get a gig.

I'll be maybe go to Hong Kong.

I had or-- Maybe go to Hong Kong.

Once in a while.

But not as much as formerly.

There was a time when I was doing probably 40 of them a year.

Well, we're so glad that you chose Fairbanks as one of those that you get to do a year.

Second home.

So good.

Well, we are going to trade out, I think, at this time and bring up the women's choir with their director.

Janice, thank you so much for being here for today's Alaska Live.

Remind me of your last name.

Koppel.

Koppel.

I just wanted to get it right how to say, where to put the emphasis.

Janice Koppel, do you do this often in the Summers?

I have been up here for nine years, from 1988 to 1997, being involved with the festival.

Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

Joe Scott.

And I conducted the women's choir there, the festival frauleins.

And then I had a bit of a hiatus and came back-- I guess this is my fourth time of recent.

Wonderful.

And where do you come up from?

I live presently in Texas, but I'm from San Francisco, California.

Oh, you're sweltering in Texas at times, I'm sure.

It's been pretty hot up here too, though.

We had a heat advisory.

I heard.

Well, Janice, what keeps you coming back to Fairbanks and to direct choirs?

Well, number one, and number one is the people and the music.

And my mom always said, go do what you do best, be with the people and make music.

I love that.

I do that.

So you have not the whole women's choir here for today's Alaska Live.

But you've got a great group.

Half of them.

Wonderful.

And so what will you be performing today?

We'll be doing a piece by Mary Lynn Lightfoot.

It's entitled "A Festive Alleluia."

And it is full of exclamations.

Come, let us sing a joyful alleluia.

O, sing Alleluia.

[SINGING "SING A JOYFUL ALLELUIA"] (SINGING) Alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Come, let us sing a joyful alleluia!

Alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Joyfully sing alleluia!

O sing!

Sing alleluia!

O Sing alleluia!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Come, let us sing a joyful alleluia!

Alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Joyfully sing alleluia!

O sing!

Sing alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Alleluia!

Sing alleluia!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

Sing alleluia!

Sing alleluia!

Sing alleluia!

O sing allelu!

Sing alleluia!

Sing alleluia!

Sing alleluia!

O sing allelu!

Sing alleluia.

O sing allelu!

Sing alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Allelu alleluia!

Alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Come let us sing a joyful alleluia!

Alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Joyfully sing alleluia!

O sing!

Sing alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

O sing alleluia!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

[applause] Oh, wow.

There were some joyful noises there.

Oh, my goodness.

Janice, we'll have you come up one more time up here.

And then we'll talk to some of the choir members.

And maybe talk to you again.

How did you pick that piece for this year?

It's just a gorgeous one.

Well, I wanted to have women composers for one.

And the three pieces that we will be doing are all by women composers.

And the composer of this one?

Mary Lynn Lightfoot.

Mary Lynn Lightfoot.

Text and music.

And is she a living composer?

She is.

Wow.

And so what's that for her to be able to watch-- I mean, she can stream some of these performances and watch these performances.

I wonder what that's like for her.

Well, I would imagine that it's rewarding.

She's known for her educational choral series.

"Oh, Sing" Excuse me.

It's not "Oh Sing."

That's us.

"Sing."

And so she believes in progress, starting in one place and progressing to a higher level.

And offerings to people.

So I think she'd be OK with what we've done.

I do believe Mary would be great with it.

The chords in that, the chorus, and it just has that progression to-- it gets better.

Oh, it's making me feel better.

Oh, and then that exclamation at the end.

But there's something-- Every line of text has an exclamation.

There are no commas or periods or question marks.

Maybe the first day we read it, perhaps.

Right.

But it's got lots of changing meters.

It's very rhythmically energetic.

But the interesting part is that it's set in a minor mode.

Is it?

Except for the middle section.

Goes into major.

But it's G minor, D major, G minor.

And you didn't notice it, did you?

I felt it, but I didn't know what that was that I was feeling.

And so thank you for explaining that, because I knew there was something there that was making me have a journey.

And that's-- Different dimension.

Yeah.

The minor, major, minor.

Is that the way it goes?

That is the way it goes.

Yeah, I did feel it, but I did not know what I was feeling.

And so that's really cool to hear, Janice that that-- how do you pick pieces for-- you have them picked out before you come up here, probably.

Oh, yes.

Of course you do.

And you think about how you're going to teach them and all that.

Yes, I look at the music, I listen to the music, I study the music.

But the text is very important.

One of the other pieces that we will be doing is by Rosephanye, "Powell" with the words of Langston Hughes.

And it's inspiring.

It's real.

It talks about our world.

Some of the problems perhaps.

But we are looking for the dreamers.

Those of you who are also dreamers, let's think of a better world, a better society, a more just existence, perhaps.

And I think music can bring about more beauty, more justice, more peace.

Yes.

And then even on a more elemental level is the third piece we'll be doing, which is actually our first, which is with Cello.

As I understand, he is called Cello Charlie.

Charlie Eckert, a wonderful cellist.

Had the privilege of working with him yesterday with the ladies.

I'm familiar with Cello Charlie.

I see him in the hallways here from the UAF music department.

And this piece is called "Oh, Love."

An emotion that hopefully we can find as much of in this world.

And the text is by George Matheson, who was a Scottish minister in the 1800s, late 1800s.

And at the age of 19, the story goes, he went blind.

And his fiancee broke up with him, which is another emotion that's tough to take.

And so she broke up from him.

And his sister helped him with the transition from sight to being blind.

And he penned the text on the eve before her wedding.

His sister's wedding.

And it brings about the bittersweetness of having to remember things, but the faith to continue on and still be a positive element in the world.

Writing for his sister's wedding.

That's beautiful.

Do we know if he ever found love again after being broken?

I do not know.

I hope so.

In my mind, that story ends for a happy ending with him too.

And he-- There's a lot of ascending lines.

So the faith does come through.

But I don't know if it was actualized.

Yeah.

So part of the history of these songs is so important.

And I love that about this program, especially Alaska Live, that we get to know the music, we get to know the people before you get to do the performances.

I should include the composer, Elaine Hagenberg.

Yes.

Another female composer, like you said.

All three of the pieces that you'll be performing at the concert are female composers.

And do you focus on that other times in your conducting career?

I would say that it's a mixed bag.

Yeah.

But I'm happy to say this is all women composers, since it's all women.

And they are a contribution to the world as well as men.

So true.

Love them both.

Absolutely.

It's really important to highlight all of the composers that we have.

And I think that it's great that you've picked all women composers for this, especially since you've got the women's choir.

And is it mostly word of mouth that gets out to your choirs?

Because people have got to want to sing together, I think.

And that's something that people need right now.

Absolutely.

Making an offering individually is one thing.

But I always feel that you can make a greater offer with more people.

And so as far as the advertising, I'd have to say that I have to thank Janice.

Janice Trumbull does a great job.

Yeah The word of mouth from all of us.

And I'm not sure who else would have done all that work.

She does a lot-- Absolutely.

And we will talk to Janice after a bit.

Oh, I think I've got on my list-- I've got a Kathy or Jacqueline in the choir has a magic star by their name.

[inaudible] Janice, it's so nice to have you here.

I'll step aside.

So I just want to say first that my first voice lesson with Byron was 23 years ago at the festival.

What?

I remember that because I remember what age my daughter was.

Otherwise, it would be-- and he's really pushed me over the years to try different things.

He's the one-- I was thinking about auditioning for the Alaska Chamber Chorale with Marilla Davis.

I did it, I made it in.

Janis had evidently been mentioning it to me for years, but it went in one ear and out the other.

And we had a small child.

And I didn't want to hire a babysitter.

But Janis and I have been singing together in Fairbanks for 33.5 years.

We started when we were six.

Yeah, yeah.

And I sang with Liz [inaudible] and her husband many times.

Other people in here lots of years.

But-- Kathy Taylor Yokel, you are no stranger to a Fairbanks stage.

That is for sure.

Well, Fairbanks is an art community.

We are an art community.

There's lots of dance groups.

There's lots of Visual Arts programs in this town and people who do it and love it.

There's lots of music, instrumental as well as vocal.

And I was just thinking today of the people in our group.

We have teenage members like Bella, who's from the Northland Youth Choir, gold level, and we have about four boys, I think, from that level.

And then we have men from the Borealis Ensemble, women from the Aurora Women's Chorale, and then we have people who come from out of state, like Jen, who were all devotees of Byron and Janis.

And it's amazing.

And Troy, yes.

And Troy actually sings in a group in Texas.

And he sings with amazing composers that we all know and love, but we don't know personally.

But he knows them personally.

Such a nationwide family that you have going on.

I love that.

But I want to share something from Janis.

So we sing on stage.

But really, what Janis reminds us of all the time is that we are telling a story.

And we are telling a story not just with our notes and the rhythms, but with the mood and the tone, the quality of our voices.

And if we don't do that-- Byron talked about that earlier.

We are going on a journey with the audience.

We want to go on a journey ourselves, but we want to take them with us.

And when we sing "O, Love," there is a part.

I'm trying really hard not to cry here towards the end, where there's some angst.

And we hope that we feel it without crying, because our voice become garbage.

And we hope the audience fields it at that point.

And I think Jan's worked really hard to bring that out in us.

But this is just an amazing community.

Every time my husband and I think about moving, I'm like, no, no, really, there's no place else like Fairbanks.

So-- I had not heard you say that word journey until now.

And I had said it when I was talking to Janice just a little bit ago, that I felt like I did go on a journey with that alleluia song that you sang here on Alaska Live.

And so you did it.

You did it to me at least.

And I know that you're going to take everybody on a journey during your performance, too.

There's just one more thing I want to say.

Absolutely.

Please.

Lots of people here have sung solos.

And that's fun.

But it's more fun to me to sing in a group because of all the harmonies and the different layers and textures.

We have, I think, one piece that we do as women.

We only have three parts-- soprano 1, soprano 2, and alto, but we split into five parts.

That means five different pitches with sometimes tension in the music, which you then have to resolve.

And that's very beautiful to me.

My husband always says, I don't like it when there's tension.

And I'm like, it's OK.

It's part of the journey.

It is part of the journey.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And wow, with only 20 members, splitting into five parts-- that takes a lot of rehearsal on.

And you have to be solid.

Yeah, you have to be solid.

Yeah.

But I'm going to give somebody else a chance to share.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you, Kathy.

It was so wonderful to have you here.

Hi.

It's Jacqueline, right?

Yes.

Jacqueline, remind me of your last name.

Jacqueline Bergstrom.

Jacqueline Bergstrom.

You're here from Fairbanks.

Well, for the last, what, 20 some years?

Yes.

Well, it is great to have you here on Alaska Live as part of the choir jamboree women's choir.

And do you look forward to singing with this choir and Byron and Janice every year?

Yes, absolutely.

For the last couple of years, I've been able to join.

I kind of got sort roped in, I think, through my husband, like 20 or so years ago who was singing with Byron in some of the classes that he was doing.

And I mean, I always loved to sing at church, but was totally not educated.

And so started really kind of with the basics how do you breathe and how do you do all those really basic elements of what makes your voice come through in a better way.

And so I think-- and that's, to me, is kind of one of the beauty of being in Fairbanks, that there are all these opportunities.

We're a small enough community that it doesn't matter if you are actually educated and have a musical background or whatnot, or you're just kind of like walking in from the street, like my husband did, at the time.

And you get to enjoy the experience, but you get to learn if you're open to it.

And I think Kathy mentioned our men and women's choir under Janice that's going on throughout winter and spring season.

And it's a wide array from folks who are very experienced-- you heard Kathy talk about.

And she has a lot of the terminology.

But then there's people like me who don't have that-- Way more amateur.

Way more amateur.

But you have an opportunity to learn and grow with that.

And so even that is a journey, I would say.

And it's an opportunity.

And we're definitely looking for more voices.

So anyone out there who's Fairbanks based or-- I think at times, we've had folks from even Delta who joined us.

It's the Northland Choir, right?

Or Northland-- It's under the Northland Youth Choir.

And so there's youth choir with the various levels.

And I'm sure Janice can tell you all about it.

Yeah, we'll talk about that.

And then there's the men's choir and the women's choir.

Well, you have a chance to come up to the mic.

I didn't have any more stars on bars, to quote.

Yes, please.

Mostly, I want to talk about Byron.

Oh, you have to introduce yourself first, though, to the radio.

My name is Liz Curtis.

Liz Curtis.

Thank you.

And I've been singing with Byron for a lot of years.

I don't remember the first-- I think the first time I sang in the festival chorus, there were almost 100 people in the chorus.

It was huge.

And I felt like Byron cared about me.

I mean, everybody in that choir, he cared about, and he showed it.

And he's fun to work with because he makes us do it right.

And I'm so used to doing my own thing.

And I think I do my own thing pretty well.

I mean, I've been doing music since I was 6.

And I play like four different instruments.

And I had a band called Father Dave and the Church Ladies, and we did all sorts of fun stuff.

And so I thought I sang pretty good.

And he made me fix stuff and sing things right.

And he'll be up there and he'll give us a cue to start singing.

And we'll start singing.

He says, you're late.

And we'll try again.

You're late.

We'll try again.

You're late.

And oh, I guess we have to do what he says then.

And then the next minute, he's going to be grinning ear to ear and telling us how great we are, or telling us some story that he's got a boatload of stories.

I love it.

--just such a joy to sing for that guy.

And that's why I have kept coming back.

And when you keep coming back, he gets to know you better and better.

It is because of Byron that my eldest daughter applied to Texas A&M for vet school.

Really?

And why she became a vet in Texas, in Louisiana, and met the man of her dreams and is happily married now.

She would not have gone.

She wouldn't have even applied if he hadn't cared enough and advocated for her.

And it's just-- Liz, that is an amazing story.

That is not just choir.

That is life changing.

Oh, that guy.

That guy.

Dr.

Byron McGilvray.

We have to thank him for a lot of joy in our lives.

So good.

Janice, or if there's anybody else.

Oh, yes, please.

My name is Anduin McElroy, and I just want to mention that we have amazing musicians that we are accompanied by.

Josh is-- Our accompanist today.

Yes.

And he is steady and so knowledgeable and magic on the piano.

But I think what sets apart our concert is we also have so many other musicians accompanying us.

We have-- and I should let Janice talk about it because I don't know everybody.

But we have cellos and violins and other stringed instruments.

And it makes it more than just a choir concert.

It's an experience.

And the song that we keep talking about because it's so amazing, "Oh, Love" has a cello in it.

And it adds another layer that just breaks your heart.

How many years have you been working with this choir?

I started singing last year.

I joined the Byron's choir and Jan.

And Byron did really changed my trajectory in those two weeks as far as how much I grew.

And then I joined Janice Trumbull's choir for this last year.

So it's been-- What a great story.

I mean, that you have come to this for your second year.

And I can see the excitement and the energy you have behind it.

And of all the choir, I mean, there's a lot of energy here.

It's amazing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Anybody else jumping out?

Of course.

Kathy, you got to come back.

--family affair.

So we've got two teenage girls in it, and their teenage brothers.

So three siblings from a family we have.

Raise your hands, Martha and Janice.

We have two sisters, one from Texas, one from Fairbanks.

We have Troy and Byron.

Byron who lives in Texas, but he visits here.

Home away from home.

We also have two married couples, Liz and Dave, Jacquelina and Thor.

And if I missed anybody, I'm really sorry.

Another set of brother and sister.

Oh, right.

We have a mother and two sons and a daughter.

Oh, that's so wonderful.

And the first day, I said, we should just call our choir, the Connolly choir and friends because there's four Connollys.

But I wanted to add one other thing.

I really wanted to mention this earlier.

So Janice has a need for another conductor for the Northland Youth Choir this fall.

And Byron and his effort to urge me to try new things has taught me how to conduct.

Are you kidding me?

I'm not an accomplished conductor.

You're going to be a new conductor.

Well, yesterday, I was conducting beat one with the right hand, beat two with the left hand, beat three with the-- I can't even do it right now because I'm so-- But you're going to.

Well, I can do 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 better.

But I can do 1, 2, 3, 4 even better.

Well, congratulations.

But I was afraid to try because I didn't want to mess up Janice's program.

But she's like, Kathy, I need another conductor.

And I've been working for her for two years, teaching music theory and sight singing to the Northland Youth Choir kids.

And it's been really fun and challenging.

When she asked me to do it, I said, I don't have any technical theory training.

She goes, you know all this.

And you know you got to trust your mentors.

I just said, show me some books.

She showed me some books.

I said, I know all this.

She goes, I know.

And what you said about not wanting to leave Fairbanks.

I get that because you would not have these opportunities other places.

And not at my age.

It's just the land of opportunity here.

And I'm so glad we have that.

And I'm so glad you have that too.

I'm done double dipping.

OK, well, that's great.

Thank you so much.

Janice.

Janice Trumbull, it is great to have you here.

And thank you so much for setting this up.

This is quite the orchestration we had with getting everybody here.

And-- Well, if you could have come to the concert hall, we could have given you a real show.

But yeah, we're really grateful that you made time for us and gave us this opportunity.

I was going to say what Antoine and Kathy were saying, too, that it's not just one, it's not even just Byron and Jan doing all of this, and not even all these singers, we have all these families that let these singers come.

I mean, these people have husbands that aren't singing with them or wives that aren't, and children that are at home doing who knows what in the summer sun.

Josh is playing, but his wife also is helping with the accompanying.

They have a little boy who's only a couple months old.

So he comes, too.

And then we have all the instruments, the strings.

We have Bob and Dori Olson.

We've already talked about Charlie Eckert and Annalisa Bates and Lee Hazen on percussion.

Did I miss anybody?

Who?

Oh, and Terry.

Yes, Terry on viola.

How did I [inaudible].

Can you introduce your pianist who's here today one more time?

This is Josh Vigran.

He plays for me with the Northland Youth Choir all season and the Aurora and Borealis.

I mean, I need somebody to play, and Josh is there for us.

We appreciate you taking time.

Singing with the trio.

And Josh plays with them too.

Oh, Josh, we really appreciate you taking time out of your day today to come here and play for Alaska Live, too.

It means a lot to us.

What is it that keeps you coming back to being the accompanist to the Northland Choirs?

[laughter] It's a loaded question.

Well, I mean, there are lots of reasons.

I really like doing this, though.

It's great to work with people like Byron and Janice and Jan.

I feel like as a pianist, we do so much that's alone, sitting alone, practicing alone.

And being able to work with groups, being able to work with conductors, actually, I think is some of where I've learned the most about music.

It's great to have you here.

And thank you so much for stepping up to the mic.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

[applause] And I want to thank Scott Hanson for bringing the keyboard down yesterday too and setting it up.

It's such-- it's a team effort here at Alaska Live.

We can't do anything in the concert hall.

And Scott saved our bacon repeatedly.

I know.

And so I want to thank him for coming down and setting that up for us yesterday.

And so it's here for us today.

Really wonderful.

And the Northland Youth Choir, they've come off of-- you've come off of a big journey with them.

Big trip.

Yeah, we spent two weeks in Texas.

And I think in two weeks, we did 10 real concerts.

Wow.

Yeah.

So they worked hard.

They had some pretty fun things.

Nothing like seeing Alaska's flag in the Texas State Capitol Rotunda.

[laughter] And then they just kind of spontaneously we were visiting the George H.W Bush presidential museum.

And they were off in their groups doing their thing.

And all of a sudden, I hear "The Star-Spangled Banner."

I go, oh, I recognize those voices.

What are they doing.

And I peek around the corner.

And they'd line themselves up, giving themselves their pitch, in front part of the museum that talked about his presidency.

So there was the columns representing the White House.

And there singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

And people, all the-- we call them the innocent civilians in our path.

The innocent civilians are out there with their cameras and their phone, filming them.

I'm going-- well, they sound pretty good.

So then the employee who works there, he says, he goes, hey, can you sing another song.

And so I'm thinking, oh no, what are they going to do now.

And so they did Alaska's flag.

They gave themselves their pitch.

They just took it off and running.

And then they're going, take me to your leader.

And they go, oh yeah, she's over there.

I'm going-- Wow.

So did one step up to be the conductor of it?

They were just there as-- yeah.

That is such a great story from Texas.

And it was so much fun for them.

That's so great.

A guy who works there, the employee, he asked me later.

Tell me about your choir, blah, blah, blah.

So I did all that.

And all these innocent civilians are still filming it all.

I guess because we're from Alaska, we're a novelty.

But anyway, so then he let us go, and the kids went off to the museum.

He says, so what's your schedule, when are you leaving, et cetera.

So I said, well, we're meeting back at 2:00 to get on the bus, blah, blah.

And he says, great, in the Rotunda of the museum, would you have them sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" again.

I'm going, well, yeah, sure.

So we met them all there.

I got them all lined up and everything.

And they sang this big old circle under the big dome in the entry to the museum.

And what I didn't know is that he had arranged for all the suits of the museum to come down from wherever their lofty offices are.

And there's all these suits and ties filming my kids singing "Star-Spangled Banner in the museum, Rotunda.

So that was kind of cool.

That is such a great story.

And I love it that it was their idea, first of all.

Yeah, they did all sorts of stuff.

[laughter] We visited natural caverns, the caves and stuff.

180 below ground.

Neat acoustics down there.

And there's the cathedral because of the shape of the structures and all this stuff.

And-- excuse me, they're a choir, and we're in a cathedral.

She goes, oh, could they sing a song.

So they just started singing a song.

I love it.

It's pretty fun.

I love it.

Well, Like Kathy said, we're looking for singers.

Not only for the men's and the women's group, but children.

The Northland Youth Choir itself starts at age 8.

So it goes 8 to 18.

And we're starting a new level for boys with changed voices.

So there's four levels of that.

Kathy will be helping me with two of them.

I'll do the other two.

And then the men and the women.

Where do people find you on the internet?

Northlandchoir.org.

Northlandchoir.org.

This has been a pleasure to have you here.

Janice, I want to thank you again for wrangling people from both the men's and the women's choirs from the choir jamboree 2025.

This has been really great.

Thanks for having us.

You can find links to more episodes of Alaska Live TV and download audio podcasts of the Alaska Live radio show online at kuac.org.

Support the Alaska Live series of live music and conversation on KUAC is made possible by a grant from Design Alaska.

Design Alaska-- strengthening community through support of the arts.