A high school choir in Manatee County will be performing the show of a lifetime this month.

  • Manatee high school choir to perform at Carnegie Hall
  • Southeast High choir to perform show of a lifetime
  • Students from across the country will perform on April 23

Southeast High School’s choir will be performing at Carnegie Hall on April 23.

“We’ve been invited to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of the National Youth Chorus,” Michelle Norman-Webb, Director of Choirs, said.

Two choruses per state were chosen to perform on the legendary stage—an opportunity these students are not taking for granted.

“I’ve never had an opportunity like this growing up. My schools never really had lots of field trips, especially out of state. I’ve never been out of state so this is something I wouldn’t be able to do without the school, it means a lot to me,” Senior Hannah Rodriguez said.

Her love of music actually came as a surprise when she took choir as a class freshman year.

“Freshman year I was in choir because I thought it was going to be an easy class. We actually work a lot harder than people think,” Hannah said. “Ever since then, I just fell in love.”

Three years later, Hannah, along with 20 of her classmates, will make their biggest debut on center stage at Carnegie Hall.

“They want to put their print her before they leave, before their time is up, and this is going to be just one of my many prints I’m going to leave,” she said.

The students will leave for New York on Friday, April 21 and will hit the big stage Sunday.