Pittsburgh Youth Chorus creates original piece, 'Under One Sky,' to wrap up year of virtual singing

It’s been over a year of challenges for anyone who spends time singing in public. The Pittsburgh Youth Chorus is no exception, but its members are finishing 12 months of virtual rehearsals with an original song.

The nonprofit PYC premiered its newest virtual choir video, “Under One Sky,” composed by the choir’s executive director, Lee Saville-Iksic, and inspired in part from words written by member Arden Anderson, 13.

They are featured in the lyrics: “The earth is small, and it only has one sky. Learning how to share it has become more important than ever. One sun, one moon, one sky. We can always look up and say to ourselves, ‘I am not alone.’”

The video was released just as youth chorus begins returning to in-person rehearsals.

At the time that it was recorded, none of the chorus members had sung it together in the same room.

“Our team wanted a season theme that evoked a sense of unity and connectedness despite all that was happening in the world,” Saville-Iksic said. “We zeroed in on the sky as a powerful symbol of those qualities.”

Though the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus has commissioned pieces in the past, this is the first time it has taken place fully in-house.

“When I was getting started with the writing process, I sent a handful of prompts to the singers to draw out their thoughts and feelings about the theme,” Saville-Iksic said. “The words they shared were touching and poignant, inspiring the lyrics that were eventually set to music that had already been dancing around in my head.”

Student-submitted lyrics and thoughts also helped shape the melody in an early section of the song, he said.

Camps, events return

In addition to bringing back in-person rehearsals, the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus is also bringing back its annual Summer Singers Camps, set for Aug. 2-6 at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve in Fox Chapel, and Aug. 4-6 at Grove City College.

The group’s fall season will kick off Sept. 13, with income-based, sliding-scale tuition available to families for the first time.

Saville-Iksic said he’s proud of how the organization has risen to the challenge of the pandemic.

“Our conductors (provided) high-quality choral education to our students through Zoom, and the virtual constraints provided an opportunity for us to be creative in the way we engaged with our students, like creating this video,” he said.

For more, see PittsburghYouthChorus.org.