First Burmese Choir to Visit the U.S. to Perform with Yale Singers

The Gitameit Voices, the choir of the only community music school in Burma, will give a concert with Yale student groups on April 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 292 Orange St.

According to concert organizers, Gitameit Voices is the first Burmese choir to visit the United States.

The concert will feature the Yale a cappella group Spizzwinks(?) and a choir of Yale and New Haven singers under the direction of Jeffrey Douma, conductor of the Yale Glee Club.

Founded in 2003, Gitameit Voices is the choir of the Gitameit Music Center, a joint venture of American concert pianist Kit Young and Burmese musicians.

After Cyclone Nargis made landfall in May 2008, students at the Gitameit Music Center voluntarily suspended their studies and, with the support of Foundation for the People of Burma, transformed their school into a crisis response center, reaching over 150,000 survivors with critical aid.

The Spizzwinks(?), a student-led, undergraduate organization, visited Gitameit in Rangoon in 2007. Since then, they have been raising funds to bring Gitameit’s choir on a tour to the U.S.

The concert is free and open to the public.