You can help provide a life-altering experience for LBCC’s music students
“For many of these students, it’ll be their first time traveling on an airplane, first time traveling overseas, maybe even their first time getting on a subway. It’s a pretty big deal,” said Raymund Ocampo, Director of the LBCC Music Program.
He is referring to July 2023, when he and approximately 35 of LB’s music students will travel to the United Kingdom for ten days to perform in Great Britain, Wales, and Ireland. The music program tour will include LB’s choir and its instrumentalists.
“We will perform in some of the most beautiful cathedrals – none less than about 400 years old,” said Ocampo. “But the most interesting part is how we are structuring it.”
The LBCC music students have all joined in an equitable payment plan. That means that each student chooses what they can afford to pay for the tour. About half of them are paying the full amount on their own, or within about $100 of cost. The rest can go due to the generosity of donors and the college.
“People who donate are really helping those students who need it. The money is going directly to those students who could not otherwise afford to participate,” Ocampo explained.
The LBCC Music Program had a trip to Vietnam scheduled in 2020 and it was canceled due to the pandemic. The college and the tour company covered expenses, so no student was out any money, but it was a disappointment to all involved.
“These kinds of tours are life changing … and at times life altering,” said Ocampo. “There was no traveling for two years due to the pandemic and the students really missed out.”
In this year’s tour, the students will have a chance to explore London, Oxford, Cambridge, Cardiff, and Dublin. Ocampo said they are excited to visit two of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world and to see firsthand the inspiration for the Great Hall at Hogwarts and everything else from the Harry Potter stories.
For those on the home front who would like an opportunity to see the amount of talent that LB will share with the UK this summer, there is a concert on Dec. 2. Entitled ‘One Voice,’ the concert will be “like nothing in the Mid-Willamette Valley,” said Ocampo.
LB has hired a lighting designer and a lighting specialist who has spent days installing new lights in Russell Tripp Performance Center on the Albany campus. According to Ocampo, it will look like a rock concert with a 50-voice choir.
Students will perform music by singer-songwriters Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, and Lauren Daigle, as well as delivering some classical performances, some musical theater, and choir performances. The concert will be led by students and include solos and student compositions.
The powerful concert will be “a bit of drama, a bit of fun,” and “one of those things that will become an annual event that sells out,” said Ocampo.
And what a great way to prepare the music students to wow those halfway around the world – with a little help from LBCC’s friends and donors.
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Donate to the LBCC Music Program through the LBCC Foundation.
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