Passion and persistence lead VWC choir to one of the world’s most prestigious venues

By Stephanie Smaglo

It’s a bright spring morning in Midtown Manhattan. Sunlight pours through the towering structures overhead, sidewalks are alive with activity, and though it’s still somewhere in the breakfast hour, the smoky aroma of street fare fills the air. But there’s something else. A feeling. The kind that
makes you think anything is possible; like something big is about to happen. And it is.

Tucked away in a room on the 19th floor of the Grand Hyatt, Alyana Mack ’15 can’t help but jump up and down on her bed. It’s the only way to cope with the excitement.

“Today’s the day. This is it. We’re singing at Carnegie Hall today,” yells the soprano psychology major.

Mack has traveled to New York City this Memorial Day weekend along with 48 other members of the Virginia Wesleyan Chorale and Wesleyan Singers—plus a handful of faculty and students from Tidewater Community College and the Hampton Roads community—for two Carnegie Hall performances that make up “The Voices of Virginia Wesleyan College.”

The group arrived Friday evening and their days since have been filled with big city exploration and,
of course, practice. It’s now midafternoon on Monday and the singers have just finished their final dress
rehearsal. When they take the stage tonight in front of an audience, it will represent the culmination of a long journey—for these students and for Virginia Wesleyan College, which will celebrate its own Carnegie Hall debut along with them.

The performers spill into their green room chatting excitedly about the thrill of working with internationally acclaimed composer and conductor, John Rutter.

“When you think about working with a celebrity composer,” Mack says. “That’s kind of nerve-racking. But he’s so nice and fun and comforting. He zips around the stage and makes jokes with us.”

Rutter will conduct the VWC ensemble, combined with an orchestra and four other choirs from around the country, as they perform Mozart’s Requiem. But prior to that, the Virginia Wesleyan choir will have a chance to shine solo as they open the concert with original compositions by Michael John Trotta, VWC’s director of choral music and assistant professor of music. Trotta will lead the group, without instrumental accompaniment, in a performance of his works, entitled Music of Stillness, Peace, and Hope.

“To know that we get to rock this house a cappella,” says Mack. “And it’s just us and you’re not hearing anything but our wonderful voices…I’m ready to move mountains. I don’t even have nerves. It’s just excitement now.”

Like a cat sleeping on a pillow. That’s how 19-year-old Darrell Wood describes the heaps of hair he lost just days after his first run with chemo. You’d never guess it by looking at him—the picture of strength with his styled blonde hair, shiny skin and warm hazel eyes—but only 19 months ago, then a senior in high school, Wood was diagnosed with cancer. Two rounds of chemotherapy and two surgeries later he was given a clean bill of health, and in spring 2014 the music and theatre major wrapped up his freshman year at Virginia Wesleyan and prepared for the opportunity of a lifetime: a performance at Carnegie Hall.

He wouldn’t have believed it if you’d told him in February 2013 that he’d be performing as part of a collaborative VWC choir at one of the most prestigious venues in the world. In fact, he might not have even believed you if you’d said he’d be going to college at all.

A student at Peninsula Catholic High School in Newport News, Wood had always been slightly more interested in the performing arts than in schoolwork. It wasn’t until the beginning of his senior year that he began to take his grades more seriously, setting rigorous academic goals to help him achieve his dream
of attending college. It was around that time that he received his testicular cancer diagnosis.

“For maybe 10 minutes I just broke down and cried,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘This just can’t be happening right now. I have schoolwork, graduation, possibly college; this is just too much.’”

Within the next two weeks, he underwent surgery and began chemotherapy at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, who he credits with saving his life. He has since performed in costume for CHKD’s young patients, shared his story at hospital fundraising events, and helped raise money for pediatric cancer research as part of Hyundai Hope on Wheels. He hopes to one day create theatre workshops for children.

With a newfound personal interest in oncology, Wood set his sights on Virginia Wesleyan. He was admitted to the Class of 2017 and began his first semester with plans to become a biology major. It wasn’t long, however, until his love for singing and acting prevailed and he chose instead to double major in music and theatre.

A few months into his freshman year testing revealed that his cancer was back, and a week before his nineteenth birthday Wood had surgery to remove 26 lymph nodes. As he recovered, he poured his heart
into his music. His medical hurdles—or “dark blessings,” as he calls them—have ultimately made the trip to Carnegie Hall that much sweeter.

“I can’t wait to see the audience from the stage of Carnegie Hall. It’s the enterprise of musicianship. Every well-known composer, maestro, singer and instrumentalist has played there. To be invited to sing there is truly an amazing opportunity that’s not taken for granted.”

In April 1988, Virginia Wesleyan student singers, faculty, staff and guest artists were joined on stage by a full orchestra for a performance revered by David Clayton, VWC’s first full-time music professor, as a turning point for the College’s music program. The performance, coincidentally, was Mozart’s Requiem.

“It was really amazing,” Clayton remarked in May 2012, just before his retirement. “More than anything it reconfirmed my belief in the magic of music.”

Clayton arrived at VWC in 1972, and under his guidance the music program grew into a dynamic place for students to learn and grow while experiencing the transformative power—the magic—of song.

Michael Trotta took the program’s reigns in 2012 and has orchestrated the College’s trip to Carnegie Hall, providing an opportunity for students to take their music out of the classroom and into the world.

“We’re excited about this trip,” he says. “Taking part in choral music—whether as an audience member, singer, conductor or composer—is an opportunity to slow down time long enough to allow the beauty of life to catch up with you.”

And a beautiful time it is for the arts at VWC. Plans for the construction of a new academic building devoted to the arts are underway at the College, launched by an initial $5 million challenge gift made in 2013 by Susan and David Goode, their daughters Christina and Martha, and their son-in-law Blair Mielnik.

The building is being designed with input from students, faculty, staff, and friends of Virginia Wesleyan and is envisioned as a gathering place for both the College and the larger community. In addition to stage productions, the facility will be used for lectures, film showings, and as a meeting place for individual classes and larger groups. Scope of the building and a timeline for construction will be determined as fundraising progresses.

In recognition of the Goode family’s commitment to the arts and dedication to the College, VWC’s Board of Trustees voted to name the new facility Goode Hall. It will be situated on a rise of land across from the College’s entrance, serving as a welcoming beacon for all arriving on campus.

At 8 p.m. on Monday, May 26, 2014, the lights are dimmed inside Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium. As if they’ve done this a million times before, Alyana Mack, Darrell Wood and all the members of the
VWC choir—ladies in formal black gowns, gentlemen in tuxedos—glide onto stage and into ready position. The next two hours are filled with angelic melodies.

“To know that we were making such a powerful sound and my voice helped contribute to that, is breathtaking,” Mack later said. “We now have bragging rights. And the best part is that, through hard work, study and preparation, we earned them. There’s no better feeling. No one can ever take away the memories we created as a choir and musical family.”

The evening’s sounds, filled with emotion, called to mind the many roads traveled to arrive at that pinnacle moment. Journeys of struggle and determination. Journeys of belief and triumph. Journeys like Darrell Wood’s.

“When I walked on stage, I was overwhelmed with joy,” Wood recalls. “Having the opportunity to sing Dr. Trotta’s set showed exactly what I’ve gained in the past year: Stillness, in the storm of cancer. Peace, within myself. And hope, to always keep fighting.”

Wood has not yet decided where his future will take him—maybe Shakespeare in Chicago, musical theater in New York City, or perhaps he’ll end up teaching others how to sing, dance and act. The remarkable thing is that he has a beautiful future to look forward to. A future that begins at Virginia Wesleyan College.

“It’s been a crazy road. A crazy road filled with sadness, happiness, frustration, and confusion,” he says. “But this is what I live for. I love the arts. I know now that nothing can hold me back from pursuing my dreams.”