PS22 Chorus Is Big News Overseas! (UPDATED!!)

This weekend I was contacted by reporter Martin Jan Stepanek from www.pressetext.de who was interested in doing a feature on the P.S.22 Chorus. Mr. Stepanek is from a major news distributor in Austria/Germany. Below is just a portion of the article, which was posted this morning, and can be read in its entirety at: http://www.pte.at/pte.mc?pte=070604012. Mr. Stepanek has just informed me that the article was picked up by other media distributors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland! Pretty cool, chorus posse! You're an international phenomenon!!!! Below is the article and the translation.

(Click article to enlarge)

And big, BIG thanks to ENOMIS at the FEELTHEWORD TORI AMOS FORUM for translating the article!

YouTube Makes It Possible – Private Audience With Famous Musician Tori Amos

Videos of school choir inspire American singer to spontaneous performance

New York – For the pupils of a school in New York, a dream came true. Inspired by the school choir videos which music teacher Gregg Breinberg had posted on YouTube and the choir’s blog, famous musician Tori Amos decided to meet up for a spontaneous performance with the children. They had been performing the music of the American artist for several years, and they had been putting their rehearsals and performances on the internet. After being sent an email from a Tori Amos fan-site about the chorus, the management of Tori Amos took notice and made the singer aware of it.

Impressed by the YouTube performances, Amos followed the suggestion of her label to welcome the school choir in the Sony building in Manhattan. After the kids together with their music teacher sang one of the new songs from her current album “American Doll Posse” the singer became a choirmaster herself singing with the astounded nine-to-twelve-years-olds a duet. “The idea for the blog emerged because fans of Tori Amos on the internet forums asked for them repeatedly,” says Breinberg in an interview with Pressetext. “Of course one hopes in the back of one's mind that Tori Amos will see these videos one day. But for it to actually happen, and to lead to such a special meeting for all involved - one doesn’t even dare to think about it,” says Breinberg.

The music teacher and the choir are not just amazed about their meeting with the singer but also about the feedback their performances have gotten on the internet. According to Breinberg, the YouTube videos of the choir have been played 400.000 times by now and the popularity of their own blog has skyrocketed since people became aware of the special gig. Again, YouTube became the catalyst since the performance was filmed with a handheld camera and posted on the internet.

Tori Amos, who has sold twelve million records and has had several top tens, is one of the most successful musicans of recent years. To promote her new CD, the American artist, who lives in England, is currently touring Europe. The German leg of the tour starts today, Monday, in Hamburg. Other performances will take the artist to Munich, Düsseldorf and Berlin. The Bösendorfer- enamoured musician will be in Vienna on 8 June. At the end of June it is Graz’s and Zurich’s turn.