Last summer, Office for the Arts director Jack Megan attended the farewell performance of Seiji Ozawa, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in an outdoor concert at Tanglewood, where the Boys Choir was performing.

“I was lying on the grass when I heard an amazing sound, a truly beautiful sound, and it was the Boys Choir of Harlem,” Megan says.

Megan says that Ozawa was so inspired that he stopped conducting and started to dance.

“I was just very moved by their sound and their youth,” Megan said. “It is telling that Ozawa, after performing for 30 years, would pick this choir for his final performance.”

He went backstage to meet the Boys Choir of Harlem later that same day, and resolved to bring the group to Harvard.

“I asked President Summers, knowing of his passion for the arts, if he would be interested in this, and he said he would be happy to sponsor [the event],” Megan says.

Megan says he convinced Turnbull to have the choir travel to Cambridge and cultivate academic and artistic interests in a four-day residency hosted by Harvard students.

“This is an amazing collaboration,” Megan says. “It’s meaningful because it celebrates the things my office cares most about, and those things are artistic achievement and artistic excellence.”

Soon the details came together.

“When I asked professors to be a part of this program, I did not receive a single ‘no,’” Megan said.

University Organist and Choirmaster Dr. Murray Somerville says he is enthusiastic about the visit.

“The remarkable thing is what the Boys Choir of Harlem does and where it does it,” he said. “I’m a great believer in first-class musical education for children—it is a life-enriching, life-affirming experience.”

The Choir Lives Harvard-Style

The 43 members of the Choir, ages 11 to 18, will arrive at Memorial Hall on Feb. 4 to kick off their residency at Harvard.

In the evenings, they will rehearse with over 100 Harvard participants from the Brothers and Sisters of Kuumba, the Baroque Chamber Orchestra, the University Choir and Choral Fellows, and the Brattle Street Players. This collaborative preparation will culminate in a concert at Sanders Theater on Friday, February 7.