By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
Members of the Red Bank Catholic choir recently learned they were finalists for NBC’s Christmas in Rockefeller Center show. While they weren’t chosen to perform, they will be singing around Red Bank this holiday season.
RED BANK – “I am one lucky music teacher,” said Melody Blasenheim Stevens, the choir director at Red Bank Catholic. Stevens and the 23 members of the choir recently learned they were one of three student singing groups chosen as finalists from 57 entrants in the tristate area to sing at NBC’s annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony. While they ultimately weren’t chosen to perform, Stevens said it was an “amazing experience” to compete.
NBC 4 New York and “The Kelly Clarkson Show” ran the “Star Choir” competition, giving one lucky student musical groups the opportunity to perform during the televised ceremony Dec. 1. Stevens said an administrator at RBC saw advertisements for the competition on television and brought it to her attention. Stevens discussed it with her supervisor, performing arts department chairperson Kelly Gemellaro, who questioned whether the students were ready to perform a Christmas number in October, when the video entries were due. “I said, ‘We were born ready,’ ” Stevens joked, and in a couple days she and the choir worked out an arrangement of “The Lord Bless You and Keep You,” a song they sing at every performance.
That video got them into the finals. Stevens said she was home when she got the call from NBC. “(The woman from NBC) said, “We at NBC think your choir is fantastic and we would love for you to be in our finals,’” said Stevens, who then had to walk out into the street and take a deep breath before processing the information. “I took the cellphone away from my ear and – I’m a soprano – I screamed at the top of my lungs in the middle of my neighborhood,” she said. The choir then had only a few days to record themselves singing one of three songs: “Silent Night,” “Up on the Housetop” or “Joy to the World.” They chose “Silent Night.” Stevens wrote an arrangement to best fit the students’ voices and they sang the tune a capella. Then Kelly Clarkson’s band judged the three finalists. “We are still shocked at the fact that Kelly Clarkson and her band know us,” said Stevens. While they ultimately lost to a “very adorable elementary school from the Bronx” that performed “Up on the Housetop,” Stevens said the RBC students were happy with the outcome and gracious in defeat. “We just couldn’t compete with that kind of cuteness,” she said with a laugh.
Stevens, who owned a music school for 20 years and still teaches privately, started teaching at Red Bank Catholic in 2019. She said her choir students are “really, really good” and dedicated to the program. “They worked so hard both on ‘Lord Bless You’ and on ‘Silent Night.’ I mean, the kids were just so 100 percent there for each other.” The choir students may have just barely missed the stage at Rockefeller Center but that doesn’t mean they won’t be performing this holiday season. Catch them as part of Red Bank’s Holiday Harmonies program sponsored by Red Bank RiverCenter from noon to 3 p.m. Dec. 18 by the Christmas tree at Riverside Gardens Park. They are also back live and in person after a virtual year in 2020 for their annual concert of Readings and Carols with a finale that’s sure to inspire, according to Stevens. For “Tidings of Joy,” a medley of Christmas tunes, members of the choir will be singing in three-part harmony while playing handbells, all accompanied by two pianos. The concert takes place at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17 at St. James Church in Red Bank. To purchase tickets for Readings and Carols, visit the Performing Arts section of the Red Bank Catholic website at redbankcatholic.org.
The article originally appeared in the December 9 – 15, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
