Maia Armstrong used to sing for her mother, Ingrid, and when she did her homework before she became a member of a choir.
She is one of 22 members of Campanella Children’s Choir from Northbrook, Illinois, which will be participating in International Choral Kathaumixw 2023.
When she was 12, her teachers recommended that Maia, who is blind, take up something after school so she could make friends. Her mother searched the internet and found the Campanella choir was nearby.
“After I checked it out, Maia auditioned, and she has been going there ever since.”
Ingrid said she knew Maia could carry a tune but choir director Marianna Kosaya “shaped her voice into something magical.”
A first soprano, Maia is a member of the ensemble and also a soloist. The 18-year-old is a senior in high school and will graduate on May 28.
A member of the choir board, Ingrid will be travelling to the qathet region for the festival with her daughter and the choir.
Asked about a favourite song, Maia said, “there have been a lot of good ones over the years.”
She especially loved singing “Ocho Kandelikas (Eight Little Candles)”, a Hanukkah song in Spanish, with the choir last December.
Kosaya has been very patient and nurturing with Maia over the years, according to Ingrid, and they bond well.
“Maia has learned from the choir director and the choir director has learned from my daughter, too, on how to work with a child with no vision.”
Not only was Kosaya successful in teaching Maia to sing beautifully, she has also worked on her stage presence and taught her how to drop her jaw in order to project good sound, which is difficult to do with a blind vocalist.
She has also taught Maia music theory, which she grasped partly by using her hearing and partly by receiving the information on her device, which is a BrailleNote Touch Plus tablet.
“Maia is very talented and learns the pieces over a number of weeks,” explained Ingrid. “In a very short period of time she has memorized the whole song and to top it all off she has perfect pitch. The children in the choir love Maia, and always offer to assist her when she needs to move around.”
They also are very supportive of each other and have utmost respect for their choir director, added Ingrid.
Kosaya’s music education took place in Ukraine, where she attended a college followed by five years at an institute of music. Eventually she moved to the United States, at the invitation of relatives, where she began a career in interior design because she was concerned about her language skills.
In 2000 she began teaching singing to her four-year-old daughter and friend. She had wanted to put them into a choir but was advised to wait for a year.
“I thought I would prepare them for that first day and then I have never stopped teaching,” said Kosaya. “The group became bigger and bigger so then I registered it as a choir. Now I have multi-layers of singers from age four.”
The choir coming to Kathaumixw involves members from 11 to 18.
Kosaya has a connection to Powell River. At one time she was a member of a children’s choir named Shchedryk from Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. Olga Tereshcenko, who teaches piano at the academy of music, was the choir’s accompanist.
“We all admired Olga for her amazing professionalism, and I keep a wonderful memory from my childhood about her,” explained Kosaya. “It was a big surprise for me to find out that she’s teaching in Powell River, and I’ll have a chance to see her. I can’t wait.”
Tickets for International Choral Kathaumixw are available at Powell River Academy of Music, 7280 Kemano Street, or online at kathaumixw.org/concerts.shtml.
