‘UTAH ELEVATED SOUNDS’
CARNEGIE HALL, MARCH 2023

Featuring Sound of Ages, Pleasant Grove High School, and Maple Mountain High School

If you’ve ever attended a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, your tour of the building probably extends from the lobby to your seat (and maybe to the restrooms.) Built over a century ago, the style and architecture of the structure represents the city’s rich history in performance and music. But as you’ve sat in the tiered seating of Stern Hall, have you ever wondered what it’s like behind the stage? What goes into the preparation of a performance at Carnegie Hall? 

This year, Infinity Tours + Events hosted its inaugural event, “Utah Elevated Sounds,” featuring both educational and professional performing arts groups from our home state of Utah. Like any big endeavor, our team learned how to put on a show of this magnitude step by step. Now that this year’s performance is behind us, we can finally reveal the truth about backstage Carnegie—stairs. It’s lots of stairs. 

Of course, that’s an oversimplification. Behind-the-scenes of our Carnegie concert started a year before the actual performance, gathering interested directors and performers onto the setlist for an evening of music. Infinity Tours & Events has company roots in curating travel for high school performing arts groups, so it was a dream come true to host choirs and orchestras from the Utah high schools of Pleasant Grove and Mapleton at Carnegie Hall. In addition, Sound of Ages (a Utah-based professional choir directed by Kameron Kavanaugh) participated in the concert, which made for an excellent program. 

The preparation for a performance at this legendary venue was a labor of love and meticulous planning. Every step, every note, was crafted with precision and intention by both the performers and the Infinity Events team. Beyond the performance at Carnegie, each educational group worked with one of Infinity’s Tour Consultants to plan a four day travel itinerary that included sightseeing, Broadway tickets, flights, hotel rooms, and so much more. (This was the first time to New York City for many participants, and it was important to make the most of every second!) 

On the day of the concert, each group was given time in the Stern auditorium to rehearse. History rings eternal in this hall, the mainstage of Carnegie. It has seen performances by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Duke Ellington, Julie Andrews, Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Strauss, the Beatles—not to mention many contemporary artists of our day. In fact, the hall’s inauguration in 1891 opened with Tchaikovsky (yes, that Tchaikovsky) conducting the Symphony Society Orchestra. To perform on the same stage as these musical icons before high school graduation is an opportunity afforded to very few. 

The hard work of the performers and Infinity Events team came to a crescendo as the curtains rose on the evening concert. Music filled the Stern auditorium, the culmination of months of preparation. 

The highlight of the night came at the end of the program when all the groups joined together onstage for a combined performance of Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise arranged by Mack Willberg. The hall fell silent with anticipation as the performers, each a note in the grand opus of the night, prepared for the finale. These young talents stood shoulder to shoulder with the professional performers of Sound of Ages and provided the perfect punctuation mark to a beautiful evening of music. As the music swelled, Carnegie Hall bore witness to the power of collaboration and personal passion. 

Our team at Infinity Tours & Events cherishes the chance to curate moments like this for professionals and students alike. If we tried to list every moving piece of putting together a performance at Carnegie Hall, we’d fill a book or two. But when it’s all said and done, the payoff of providing elevated experiences for our clients is worth every second (and every staircase we have to climb behind the scenes.) We are so pleased with how Infinity’s first Elevated Concert turned out, and here’s to many more in the 2023-2024 season!