Longtime Laie resident Esther Macy has led the choir for 15 years
The Ko’olauloa Children’s Chorus celebrated 15 years of singing and performing at its concert, “Lift Up Your Voice” in the McKay Auditorium on Thursday, April 28, where they paid tribute to Esther Macy, the choir’s founder and longtime director.
Jaida Rogers, a seventh grader who performed in the concert, said Macy is like a second mom. “She just cares about us so much. She loves us no matter how much we irritate her.” Macy said after 15 years of directing the choir, she comes back for more every year. “The children make me come back,” Macy said.
“They’re absolutely amazing to work with.” The choir now boasts 71 children, who filled the stage in the McKay Auditorium. The children were split into three groups: alto, soprano I, and soprano II.
They sang songs from Handel and Mozart, sang in Latin for “Ave Verum,” and danced along to “Lift Up Your Voice,” the concert’s most energetic number. Even while standing still, the children’s smiles lit up their faces.
A native of Laie, Macy said she founded the choir because she knew this area was culturally rich with music and dance. She wanted to form a choir she knew would eventually be “marvelous.”
Macy said, “We started this as a just-for-fun singing group, and it grew to a group that has traveled around the world. We used to just sing simple songs when we first started, and now the students can sing in many languages and in many parts. We started out from nothing to something.”
Macy graduated from BYU in Provo and has taught music for more than 30 years. Under her direction, the KCC has performed in concert halls across the world, from China and Europe to Carnegie Hall in New York.
The choir goes on tour every two years. In 2017, Macy plans to take the choir to Germany and Austria, where they already have a date to sing with the Vienna Boys’ Choir. The choir’s most recent tour was to Italy in 2015.
Rogers said the choir had been practicing for four months since their last concert for Christmas. She said of the choir, “We’re all one big family. Everyone supports each other. If you mess up, we help each other out, and no one teases each other.”
Sarah Baker, a junior from New York studying information systems, said the concert was better than she had expected. She said the children’s voices sounded angelic. “I didn’t know children could coordinate that well,” she said as she laughed.
“I was impressed they were able to split into so many different segments and could sing so many parts, especially the super little kids.”
The concert featured performances from six of the children playing steel drums, accompanied by Darren Duerden on percussion and Dan Bradshaw on bass.
Accompanying the choir was Ken Weber, an organist who has been playing for the KCC for three years ever since Macy met him in a McDonald’s, where he told her he would love to help. Weber also performed an organ solo, as did BYUH student and saxophone player Koko Ohira, a senior from Japan majoring in music.