Personal Narrative: My First Formal Concert At Carnegie Hall

When I was eight years old, my mom took me to my first formal concert in Carnegie Hall to hear the Cincinnati Pops play because her office got her and her colleague VIP tickets for Christmas. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it all that much because I was never a fan of classical music at that age, but I loved every second of that concert, or the fact that I was in New York City. That’s still debatable.

That night was the soloist’s Carnegie Hall Debut, and I was completely in awe of her. I didn’t know that a human voice could sound so beautiful and sophisticated. I can’t even begin to imagine how nervous she was at the time, but she certainly didn’t appear nervous onstage at least not to my eight-year-old eyes.

We were able to attend this gala afterwards because we had VIP tickets, and I felt so overwhelmed by being surrounded by so much musical talent and affluence. I can’t even begin to imagine how much those tickets cost everyone who attended. But this soloist was there, and with absolutely no fear in my body, I ran up to her to tell her how beautiful she looked and sounded out there. I’m also positive that I said I wanted to be like her when I grew up, embarrassingly enough. She just laughed and said thank you and that was that, but that night gave me the determination to work so hard so that I, too, could make my Carnegie Hall debut one night.
He’s a pretty big deal in the choir world because he had a piece commissioned specifically for the Royal Wedding. We received the invitation from the conductor of the concert because of our talent and dedication to the art of