Juilliard student impresses choir

Call it one of those charmingly unexpected moments: Some 40 Chukker Creek Elementary School fourth- and fifth-grade boys, gathering around a young vocalist from The Juilliard School in New Work and collecting his autograph like he's a rock star.

No, let's go beyond that. Treating him as if he were LeBron. Yep, that LeBron.

"It's so true," said fifth-grader Marin Sanders with a big smile.

Tobias Greenhalgh, a baritone in his fourth year at Juilliard, had spent about an hour working with the Boundary Boys - a boys' choir taught by Joyce English and established with the assistance of the men's group South Boundary. Both groups, as well as Greenhalgh, performed at H. Odell Weeks Activities Center Monday night.

As the boys listened in awe the next morning, Greenhalgh performed briefly a work by Beethoven in German and an art song by French composer Gabriel Faure.

"He's amazing, a really great singer, and I want to be a singer like him when I grow up," Marin said.

As for Greenhalgh, "I've never encountered anything like this," he said. "It's nice to be signing autograph after autograph. It's most rewarding when a kid says he wants to be a singer like me."

In March 2009 and again in March this year, the Juilliard School sent musicians to a week-long festival in Aiken through a partnership with the Juilliard in Aiken organization and Joye Cottage's Steven Naifeh and Gregory Smith.

"Now we're started a new project with residencies," said Dr. Sandra Field, president of Juilliard of Aiken. "Tobias is here for two weeks, and we'll have a string quintet in October. We're also hoping for a string quartet in November."

Greenhalgh sang at First Baptist Church Sunday and will be featured in concert at the church Thursday at 7 p.m. That performance is free and open to the public. He will appear again at St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church during the Sunday service.

At Chukker Creek Tuesday, Greenhalgh clearly enjoyed working with the Boundary Boys, as well as English and Bill Riehl, a South Boundary member who works with the Boundary Boys. During the session, the kids performed a verse of "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain."

Afterward, Greenhalgh said he heard some awesome voices, then suggested the boys condense the music and try to listen to the others next to them. After they tried again, he encouraged them to emphasize words like "coming" and "mountain" and showed them correct posture and how to breathe through their noses.

"It was a great experience with the kids," Greenhalgh said later. "I found I was learning while teaching them."

Presents, said Riehl, sometimes drop out of the sky, and Greenhalgh's involvement is a big boost to the program. The boys are still astounded by the young baritone's talent, said English.

"They were very enthusiastic about meeting him and living up to his ideals," she said.

Next week, the Boundary Boys will travel to East Aiken Elementary School, performing to encourage kids there to join a new boys' choir based at that school.

"We can be role models for them," Marin Sanders said.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.