Washington student raises money for concert trip

WASHINGTON — A Washington High School senior is planning to sing at Carnegie Hall in February as her family raises money to pay for the trip.

The concert will be part of the Honors Performance Series, which brings together high school musicians from across the globe twice a year to sing and play at the world-famous concert hall in New York.

Kyann Miller said she was involved in a variety of creative arts activities at the school, but has performed in choirs since second grade. Now a seasoned soprano, she said she was beyond excited about the chance to sing at one of the most prestigious venues ever built.

“I really do feel that music is what makes me who I am,” she said. “The chance to show a bit more of the world another song, or bring people some more happiness through the power of music, that really is what makes me happy … it’s like a little certification card, like, ‘Hey, you are good at what you love to do.’”

Miller said she was honored and a little surprised to learn she was nominated for the performance series several months ago. She’s still not sure who put her name in the hat.

“None of my teachers have said that they nominated me, we suspect it might have been someone from my solo ensemble last year,” she said. “After the audition, they emailed me first that I was a runner-up, but then they emailed me a week later saying, ‘Hey, there was a mistake with the emails, you’re actually a finalist.’”

From there it was a matter of fundraising for the trip.

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The Honors Performance Series charges about $3,000 for entry, and Miller’s family also had to raise money for hotels and food on the trip. As of last week, she said they’d gathered most of the needed cash for the up-front cost, but were still soliciting donations for travel expenses. An informal “cans for Kyann” drive at the school has also helped raise some money.

Miller said she was “relieved” by the community’s outpouring of financial support.

“The second thing that went to my mind after the like, ‘Oh my gosh I made it!’ was, ‘Oh my gosh, how am I going to pay for this?’” she said. “It’s a lot.”

Her mother, Tracy McConnell, said the family was thankful as well.

“We’ve had people we don’t even know donate money,” she said. “It kind of shows why I’ve kept the family in a small town. We’ve got a lot of support from strangers and friends … like most people we live paycheck to paycheck, so extra things are hard to do. It was kind of stressful.”

With the Carnegie trip looking likely, Miller said she hoped the performance would help open new doors for her, and plans to keep pursuing music in college.

“I feel like this is my sign that this is what I should go for,” she said. “I think that I’m definitely going to focus a lot more on performing arts and singing after high school … and after college, I’m going to see what I can do. I have a lot of songs I just haven’t really had the courage to get them out there, and I think I’m going to finally start putting my songs out there.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com