The Hawaii Sacred Choir recently returned from its history-making performance at Ely Cathedral in England, but now it’s time to pay the piper.
The Rev. Dan Werning, founder and leader of the choir, said, "Our most critical need today is that we have $6,500 in loans to pay back as soon as possible. We had many miracle gifts, of course, but we still had to borrow to get that many people to England on only three weeks’ notice."
The choir includes 38 members, both adults and children. However, only 26 were able to go to England last month because an expected gift of $100,000 in trip funding fell through at the last minute.
The cut in funding touched off a frantic fundraising effort and an appeal on KITV, which prompted actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and another couple to each donate $10,000.
Werning expressed gratitude for those donations and others. "A wonderful woman loaned us $4,500 out of her son’s college fund before we had money from the Smiths and other people and before we had other hope of funding," he said.
The choir also owes $2,000 borrowed from the grandmother of one of its treble singers.
"It is really important to us that these two gifts get paid back ASAP," said Werning, who is also music director of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
After the debts are paid, he said, the choir will piece together a plan for another trip to England as it is invited to sing at the iconic Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London the summer of 2016.
"This is an honor beyond description as they are England’s two greatest cathedrals and equaled only by St. Peter’s in Rome as the most famous of all the world’s cathedrals," Werning said in a press release. "Westminster Abbey asked us to sing for two days and St. Paul’s asked us to sing for six days. Since this is a long way to travel for only two days (at Westminster), we have decided to sing at St. Paul’s," as the choir-in-residence.
Also, arrangements are in the works for the choir to also sing at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice in 2016.
Werning said the choir accomplished many historic firsts on its trip to England, including being the first from Hawaii to sing at Ely Cathedral as well as being the first to sing John McCreary’s "Hawaiian Mass" in the Hawaiian language.
"As far as we know, when we sang Queen Liliuokalani’s ‘The Queen’s Jubilee’ in our Lady Chapel concert, it was the first time this piece was ever sung in England!" he added.
Werning is inviting others to audition for the choir and join them on the trip, which is about two years away. He is looking for more trebles (boys and girls ages 7 to 13) as well as teenage and adult singers. To audition, call 220-6969 or visit www.hawaiisacredchoir.org.
