Singing for world youth

The 22-member all-girl Notre Dame High School tour choir saw more than 300,000 faces staring back at them during a performance in July while in Sydney, Australia to participate in World Youth Day.

"It was like being a rock star for one brief moment in time,” said Music Director Kristin Pfeifer.

The faces blended together, which Pfeifer described as an endless sea of humanity, in Sydney for the largest weeklong youth event on the globe. Notre Dame was one of two group from the United States invited to perform. For Pfeifer, being chosen was a tribute to the program since most of the girls join choir with little to no musical experience. Governmental background checks, practicing through the summer and travel delays couldn’t keep the women from making the long journey to the land down under where, ultimately, the local vocal group performed for an audience larger than any of the members had ever seen.

Normally, Pfeifer tells the ladies to focus on her during a performance since it helps them focus.

This time, 17-year-old Yesenia Fernandez needed to remind Pfeifer to focus on them.

Apparently Pfeifer’s eyes showed shock when she saw the large crowd. Fernandez, who recently graduated from Notre Dame, took Pfeifer’s face in her hands and told her to focus.

Helping others who seem stressed helps Fernandez calm down, she explained.

Many performances are in halls making it hard to see the audience, explained 17-year-old Natasha Davis. This time was different.

The vigil performance was actually the second for the group.

Upon landing, the ladies were escorted directly to the Sydney Opera House for a morning sound check. Their original flight had been postponed. The choir arrived in time to run for the stage and perform a proper sound check. Then the ladies had a bit of downtime before their first 30-minute performance that afternoon.

It was on this stage that most the girls had an emotional response.

Davis described the feeling as surreal.

"How many 15, 16, 17, 18 year olds get to perform on that space? People dream of being able to perform [at the Sydney Opera House],” she said.

Sixteen-year-old Lauren Mike remembered shaking on stage while she sang.

The group wrapped their performances during the closing ceremonies. For Fernandez, it was the perfect way to end her singing career with Notre Dame.

The Sydney adventure did not end when the audience began clapping. The women of Notre Dame were able to spend a little time exploring Sydney before heading back to life off an island.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.