There’s a famous joke, how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Just ask the Port Allegany High School Chamber Choir — practice.

Earlier this month, the choir journeyed to New York City to sing in the place where many dream of singing but few do. The 50-singer choir took the stage on Jan. 20.

The Port Allegany choir was one of nine groups invited to perform in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage — the facility’s main hall — as part of the show “Every Life Shall Be A Song: A Choral Concert featuring the Works of Women Composers and Lyricists.”

With 2,804 seats, the Stern Auditorium can accommodate more people than the total who live in Port Allegany Borough. But, as choir director Ken Myers points out, it is not Carnegie Hall, but rather its elegance and reputation that leave visitors in awe.

“I think the thing to remember about the ‘Carnegie Hall experience’ is that for most people, the thrill is probably based more upon the prestigious history of the venue and the acoustical characteristics of the performance hall than the size of the hall,” he explained.

“To walk onto that stage and realize you are standing where Mark Twain lectured, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted, Billie Holiday sang, and the Beatles performed is more than enough to make any performer excited — and that is a very small sampling of the long list of performers who have appeared there!” Myers added. “Then, when you actually get to hear your group sing in such an absolutely stunning acoustical setting it just adds to the experience.”

This was the third time the Port Allegany High School Chamber Choir performed at Carnegie Hall. The group made previous trips in 2015 and 2017.

This year, the group faced a new obstacle: dangerous driving conditions, courtesy of Winter Storm Harper.

“There was a very real possibility that our Chamber Choir would not make it to New York due to road conditions and the predicted storm,” Myers said.

It was a learning experience for Myers and his students.

“One important lesson learned from this experience was that of ‘being flexible.’ Several times I found myself reminding the students that, even though we practice carefully and prepare our repertoire with a certain plan in place, often times we will need to adapt and modify our plan to suit the performance situation — or the weather.”

The singers arrived safely and were able to take up the opportunity to sing in a venue designed to accentuate their hard work.

“The room has a clarity and warmth that is legendary and is wonderful for unaccompanied choral singing,” said Myers, who explained, “In selecting a program for this event, I limited our group to only a cappella pieces for that reason and I think it worked out well.

“Of course, in preparation for this event we discussed the seating capacity of the room,” he added. “But, I always attempted to emphasize that our goal should be to make fine music whether we are performing for a very small group or a large audience.”

Myers is hopeful his students came out of the experience with more pride of their small-town upbringing.

He explained, “The experience of performing with so many excellent choirs in such an amazing venue reinforced my thinking that ‘great things are happening in small towns as well as large cities.’ I always hope my students realize that often times the limits we sense are self-imposed limits and frequently unfounded or unrealistic.”

Fittingly, the performance concluded with Gwyneth Walker’s “Every Life Shall Be a Song.”

The song gave Myers’ students a chance to experience “combining forces” with singers from other places, as well as to receive feedback from the songwriter and spend time with a former mentor.

“We were fortunate to have Gwyneth Walker, the composer of the finale, present to share her insight during rehearsal,” Myers said. “My students were also able to perform with their former music teacher Annamaria Myers as guest soloist. For me it was kind of a special moment to see a music educator (who is also my wife) share the stage with her former students in such a wonderful performance venue.”

Myers believes the finale performance was moving for all involved.

He said, “I am pretty confident it was inspiring and motivational to both the performers and the audience members.”

Despite the show’s grand ending, he said it is difficult to determine what affect, if any, the trip will have on the young singers’ futures.

“I can speak from past experience though: as a high school choral director, I am always extremely pleased to hear of former students who are singing with their college choirs or performing in community musical groups after university studies,” Myers noted.

In fact, many of his former students have continued to sing after high school. Their voices have taken them across the world to perform in places such as Austria, Great Britain, Iceland, South America and more, he said, adding they have sung important works like the Brahms Requiem with full orchestra.

They have sung professionally and in college or community groups. Some have taken up music as a major in college. Others sing simply because they love it.

For Myers, he finds hope in seeing former students develop a lasting love of music.

“It is very affirming as an educator and I hope that this pattern would continue with my present students.”