The vocal music department of the Mississippi Schools of theArts (MSA) is bound for New York City.

Along with three other ensembles from the state, the MSA groupwill be performing at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 13 for the Dr. MartinLuther King Jr. program, a musical tribute to the reverend hostedby MidAmerica Productions, an independent producer of classicalmusic concerts.

The program will include a choral group from New Jersey, but thestage will primarily be filled with the MSA choir and music groupsfrom Mississippi College, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Jacksonand the Mississippi Girl’s Choir. With the combined ensembles underthe direction of guest clinician James Meaders, the choral directorat Mississippi College, MSA music director Jens Oliva called theupcoming show “a Mississippi affair.”

“The program is to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr.,and it’s really mainly Mississippi groups that are performing,” hesaid.

The New Jersey group and all the young Mississippians willcombine onstage and perform the following songs:

* MLK, originally written by the band U2.

* Canticles of Light, by British choral composer BobChilcott.

* Hope for Resolution, composed by Caldwell/Ivory

* Look at the World, composed by John Rutter.

The MSA group will fly to New York on Jan. 10 and return toBrookhaven on Jan. 14.

The students will have a chance to experience the Big Applethrough planned visits to several famous sites, including theEmpire State Building and Broadway. The group will also go on adinner cruise to celebrate the conclusion of the Carnegie Hallperformance.

Trips to NYC are not cheap. Oliva said the cost for the tripamounts to roughly $1,500 per student.

To help ease the financial burden, Oliva’s music department hasrecently hosted several fundraising events and will be hosting morethroughout the weekend.

The first event began last night with the first performance oftwo madrigal dinners. Guests were treated to a candle-lit mealwhile students performed a play and several songs in the madrigalstyle, a Renaissance-like style of music and dress originating inthe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Last night’s dinner was sold-out, as is the second one plannedfor Friday night.

Still open to the public is the group’s final fundraiser of theweekend, a performance called “Sounds of the Holidays,” which willbe held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at The Haven.

Small performances such as these, as well as other fundraisingendeavors such as the sale of cookbooks and fruit baskets, help thegroup raise money for the big performance in NYC, Oliva said. Somestudents, though, are resigned to their financial fates.

Sixteen-year-old junior Drew Arnold’s trip to and performance inNYC should be doubly exciting, as he is scheduled to have histonsils removed two weeks before the show.

“The show at Carnegie Hall will be my first time singing afterthey take my tonsils out,” he said. “The doctors said to just takeit easy for a while when I’m singing. I should be fine by showtime.”

Tonsils or no, a trip to NYC will be standard procedure for17-year-old Corinn Escudé, who will be embarking on her thirdconsecutive annual trip to the big city.

“I’ve been the past two years with the Jackson Academy showchoir,” she said. “But performing at Carnegie Hall will bedifferent.”

Familiarity with the city, however, does not diminish the needto practice for the performance.

The MSA choir has practiced three times weekly since August toprepare for Carnegie Hall. On top of practicing for the main event,the group has also put a lot of time into practicing for themadrigal dinner and other fundraisers.

“We’ve been practicing every single day for the madrigaldinners,” said 17-year-old senior Amy Corder.

Arnold admitted that the non-stop practicing is sometimes astrain that required extra motivation from the top. He credited hisinstructor for keeping the choir on track.

“Mr. Oliva has been the driving force behind this,” he said.”There are days when we all get really tired and kind of burnedout, but Mr. Oliva always gets us going. He always says the rightthings and gets us doing what we need to do. “

After almost four months of continuous practice, fundraisers andmadrigal dinners fit for the English royal court, are the MSAsingers ready for Carnegie Hall? Oliva thinks so.

“They’re definitely ready,” he said. “They’re some of the mostoutstanding students. They have an amazing talent that I have notcome across before.”