Upper Columbia Academy (UCA) Choraliers have been invited to perform at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall in New York City. The invitation came from Jackson Berkey, a choral arranger and writer, and the keyboard artist for Mannheim Steamroller.

Berkey saw a video recording of Curtis Anderson, the UCA Choraliers director, directing a special choir performance of a song for which Berkey was commissioned to write the musical arrangement. Berkey was so impressed by the performance that he asked Anderson, and others at that performance, to join all their choirs for one performance at Carnegie Hall in June.

"Carnegie Hall is a world-renowned performing arts center," said Anderson. "I’ve seen statistics saying that only one in 73,000 people are ever invited to perform there, and only one in 200,000 teenagers are ever invited to perform there, so this is a really big opportunity for our youth."

To start raising the funds for the 27-member choir to travel to New York, the Choraliers held a dessert concert at Center Stage in Spokane, Wash., in February. The trip will cost $1,500 per member.

The Choraliers will head for New York on June 8 and perform at Carnegie Hall on June 11.