This is a big Grammy brag but keep in mind that this blog functions as my journal. I'm really excited about what I am going to share.
Not interested? Scroll to the bottom for the reminder about the Give Away - it ends at 11:59 Eastern tonight!
Cambria and Titan started their unexpected musical "careers" by joining a children's chorus several years ago. As time has gone on, that has grown into bigger and bigger opportunities for them.
The first was when they auditioned for parts in a production of Roald Dahl's Matilda, with Titan getting a lead role as Nigel
and Cambria a role as one of Matilda's classmates.
A Utah composer, Angie Killian, was in the audience and heard Titan sing in Matilda. She tracked Jessica down and invited Titan to sing a Christmas song she had written. Cambria was also invited and after Matilda closed, the two of them went into the recording studio.
Titan was given a solo/duet in that song and video.
They have since made five or six more recordings for Angie Killian but this one is my favorite of them all.
They continued to sing in choruses and shows (they just wrapped Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this weekend) but they had another huge musical opportunity last October.
They auditioned to sing in a children's choir at our church's Worldwide General Conference. 2,800+ kids auditioned; 380 were selected including Cambria and Titan.
They were accompanied by the 10th largest pipe organ in the world
and sang to an in-house audience of 21,000 and a broadcast audience of 17 million. That was a crazy opportunity for Cambria and Titan.
But, it led to another opportunity the very next month, November.
This was held in the historic 1867 Salt Lake Tabernacle - a smaller venue but with another incredible pipe organ, one that has 11,632 pipes.
About half the kids from the October performance were brought back to sing
and what an opportunity for the children to sing in that historic building.
Yet another wonderful opportunity to sing just came to them - like the November performance, one that they did not audition for. (I can only guess that their director for the October and November performances recommended them.)
Read this text from Mountain Mama Jessica:
They are going to be singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!! (Now called The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.) One of the best choirs in the world and often called "America's Choir." (The phrase was coined at Ronald Reagan's inauguration.)
The musician in me is pretty geeked out about Cambria and Titan's big opportunity. I don't often talk about my musical side, but I an a classically trained soprano with a minor in Music and a Masters in Science/Music Education. (Specifically, using Fine Arts to teach Science and Science to teach Fine Arts.)
As an opera singer, I've had my share of times onstage, and some of my fondest memories are having my kids join me there. When I was younger, I dreamed of being a member of the Tabernacle Choir. But, we stayed in the midwest and so it never happened. That's okay - I have had plenty of musical opportunities here.
It is because of my musical background that I know just how big an opportunity this is for the kids, one that they will remember all their lives. Lucky, lucky kids.
They rehearse Tuesday evening and hopefully Jessica will send me some pictures that I can share. Recording will be next Sunday, a week from today. It is doubtful that she will be allowed to take photos then.
