St. Agnes Cathedral choir performs at Citi Field

The boys, girls, men and women of the St. Agnes Cathedral Choir had a ball on Aug. 9, when they were invited to Citi Field to sing the national anthem before the Mets faced off against the Chicago Cubs.

“This was such a thrill, especially for our young boys and girls, to be able to perform at a major league baseball game,” St. Agnes musical director Michael Bower said.

Bower has been working at the Catholic church since 1985, when he became associate director of music. During his tenure, he has helped develop a first-rate music program. He was also responsible for starting the Cathedral Girls Choir and directing the probationer group of the Boys Choir.

Now, as the church’s music director, he oversees its 10 choral groups, and helps lead the annual Christmas concert at the church each December. The choir is composed of more than 120 members of the church’s choruses, and many of the children who perform attend the cathedral school or the Rockville Centre public schools, as well as services at St. Agnes.

“It took a lot of planning,” Bower said of the Citi Field performance. “We booked the date almost a year ago, and put the word out to the choir’s families in March.”

Nearly 500 people from Rockville Centre joined the choir at the game, some of them packed onto three rented buses.

A portion of the overall cost of the excursion — which included the price of admission and the cost to rent the buses — as well as individual donations, went to the choir for its upcoming trip to Paris, France in 2025.

The choir has previously traveled to different areas of Europe to perform. In 2012, members of the choir performed at the Vatican and St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Three years later, the choir traveled to Ireland and England to sing at the Galway Cathedral, St. Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney, and the Westminster Cathedral in London.

In 2018, the choir sang at St. Steven’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, performing selections by Mozart and working with Vienna Boys’ Choir Director Gerald Wirth. During the trip, the group also sang at churches in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, Murnau, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria.

The upcoming visit to Paris includes plans to visit the Cathedral of Notre Dame for a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem.”

The choir had originally planned to visit Paris in the summer of 2021, but due to the ongoing restoration efforts at Notre Dame after the fire in April 2019, as well as continuing coronavirus pandemic precautions, the trip had to be postponed.

Bower said that the latest trip was initially planned for the summer of 2024, but Notre Dame officials couldn’t guarantee that the church would be reopened in time, and because of the upcoming Summer Olympics, the cost was much higher than he planned for.

While the church didn’t have the total amount the choir raised at the Mets game by press time on Tuesday, Bower said that thanks to a few generous donors, it was able to raise some additional funds for the upcoming trip.

“It was a great night out and it really helped build a great sense of community,” Bower said.

One family even planned their European vacation around the Citi Field event, returning in time to attend the game.

“Doing something like this, where it’s a special performance, was a really big deal for the kids,” Bower said.

And to top it off, the Mets, who were down by two runs at the end of the second inning, came back to beat the Cubs 4-3. “I think we were their good luck charm,” Bower said. “The team won. It was a wonderful time.”