Members of the Bonsack Baptist Church Adult Choir were traveling Thursday, May 29, to New York City for a performance this weekend at Carnegie Hall. Director Barry Green said the 80 to 100 volunteer members mainly sing for Sunday morning worship services, but also do a number of special performances throughout the year.

That includes an annual "composer's weekend," a weekend retreat where the choir has an opportunity to meet the composer and work with him for a couple of days, ending in a concert of his works. Last September they invited composer Mark Hayes.

Green said they sing a lot of Hayes' music, in part because it has lasting value.

"In the arena of church music," Green said, "he is one of the finest technicians in terms of his text and the wedding of text and music. ... It's very well written but it's very applicable to life situations."

At the end of the performance, Hayes invited the group to sing as part of a 200-member mass choir performing his compositions at Carnegie Hall this June.

What's it going to be like to perform in Carnegie Hall? Choir member and Botetourt County resident Betsy Head is excited.

"It's going to be an experience of a lifetime. ... As a musician and having a degree in music and having been in performance groups for most of my life, the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall is unmatched by any other musical experience I've ever had."

Head has been singing his arrangements for 30 years, but says Hayes' compositions beautifully reflect the style of "text painting," "which is taking the words that he's setting to music and making the musical lines reflect the meaning of the words."

"He really does a nice job of interpreting the words through the music that he writes. The harmonies are very lush and very intricate. Some of our choir has been really been challenged by some of the music that we're going to be singing."

Singing at Carnegie Hall will be a new experience for Green, too.

"I'm just as excited as everybody," he said. "We really want to represent our church, and represent Christ and represent our community and Roanoke in a really good fashion."

Approximately 80 members of the Bonsack choir will be making the trip, and that number is more than 100 when friends and family are included.

Green said his group has been working really hard to get ready to join the mass choir, which will be made up of singers from Pennsylvania, Kansas, Ohio and Tennessee. They'll be accompanied by the Carnegie Hall house orchestra.

In addition to practicing the music, the group had to raise approximately $1,500 per person to go. It's been a while since some of them sold candy or held car washes, but they held several fundraisers.

There will be plenty of time for sightseeing on the trip, but the itinerary is filled with rehearsals. You might even spot a familiar face or two on television Saturday morning. The choir will be in the audience for the CBS "Early Show" and hope to sing on air. After the Sunday concert they'll celebrate with a dinner cruise around New York harbor.

As for Head, "I am looking forward to being in New York City with my husband, without the kids."