From Hendricken to Hawaii

Choir, jazz ensemble and concert band prepare for performance tour

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WARWICK — Nearly 30 students at Bishop Hendricken High School are tuning their instruments and preparing their voices for an eight-day performance tour in Hawaii. Members of the Young Men’s Choir, as well as the school’s jazz ensemble and concert band, will head to Hawaii Friday, where they plan to spend the school vacation week entertaining crowds, visiting the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, climbing Diamond Head and enjoying other activities, including a luau.

“It broadens their horizons and certainly is keeping with our mission: to educate the total human person,” said Bishop Hendricken President John A. Jackson. “It opens their eyes to another world and makes their education more complete.”

The trip will feature a performance for U.S. servicemen and women on the USS Missouri — the ship on whose deck the Japanese signed their final surrender to end World War II — a small group training with music faculty from the University of Hawaii, and an instrumental ensemble and choral concert at Damien High School, which is sponsored by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. Brother Peter Zawot, who used to teach at Hendricken, now serves there as Damien’s principal.

“As a teacher, I’m excited to be visiting a school that has the same values and faith base that we have here,” said Sean Donnelly, Hendricken’s director of bands. “It’s our tradition to do these pilgrimages.”

In the past, the group has traveled to Ireland, as well as Portugal and Italy. They performed at the Vatican four years ago, as well as at Fatima in Portugal two years ago. This is the first time they’ll be traveling within the United States, giving the instrumental group a chance to participate.

“This is a good opportunity for them to get involved,” said Donnelly, who graduated from Hendricken in 2007 and played clarinet when he was a student. He’ll be joining the group for a performance in Hawaii.

Junior Rocky Starks, 17, a trombone player, is eager to embark on the trip.

“I’m really excited to play, especially for the veterans,” he said, noting that he’s also looking forward to seeing the Pearl Harbor Memorial, as his grandfather was in the Navy. “I’m also really excited to make some memories and new friends. I think it will be a good learning experience.”

Chorus member, Peter Mancuso, 17, also a junior, feels the same. The trip, he said, is giving them the chance to perform music they don’t usually do.

“We’re doing a lot of military pieces because we’re singing at Pearl Harbor, so it lets us try new things,” he said.