Milton resident, Anthony Clark, helps record album

Helping to record an album is no small feat. 

For the boys of the St. Paul’s Choir School, it was a feat they took on with grace, and one Milton resident had the opportunity to be part of the recording.

Anthony Clark, 13, a seventh grader at St. Paul’s, has been a student at the school for four years, singing in the choir for three. 

He started out as a pre-chorister in fourth grade, learning and training to become a chorister. 

“As a pre-chorister, we just rehearsed and practiced listening to the masses,” Anthony said. “We had rehearsals twice a day.”

St. Paul’s Choir School is the only all boys choir school in the country and has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Lyric Opera, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, as well as performances in Washington, D.C. and upcoming performances in Rome, Italy. 

“It’s a classical educational school rooted in cathedral tradition,” said Kara Clark, Anthony’s mother and the associate for music and performance activities at the school. “The purpose was something similar to Westminster Abbey Choir School and traditions in Europe, specifically England, but this is a Catholic choir school.”

St. Paul’s Choir School recently finished its third album in the last 10 years: “Gabriel Fauré: Requiem & Other Masterworks.”

“It was hard work,” said Anthony in a recent interview. “We would have two three-hour sessions a day for about two or three days, and we had a bunch of cameras. We would have to constantly redo takes and we would have to get it perfect.” 

As part of the school’s 60th anniversary celebration, the choir will be traveling to the Vatican to perform with the Sistine Chapel choir. 

Asked what he was most excited about concerning traveling to Rome, Anthony said he was looking forward to the performances and seeing the Eternal City in general. 

The St. Paul’s Choir School only has a total of 46 boys from grades three through eight, and students learn music, academics, Latin, and piano. 

When asked why she chose St. Paul’s for her son, Kara said that she and her husband had known about the school for a long time and with Anthony’s love of music, it was a right fit. 

“It provided all these unbelievably unique opportunities that you can’t get anywhere else,” she said. “Anthony has a love of music and a love of singing. It just seems like a natural fit and we couldn’t be happier with everything at the school.”