Jody's PALS Sing Out

Johanna "Jody" Hill Simpson '74 stands on the grand stage of Boston's Symphony Hall, cellist Yo-Yo Ma holding her right hand, composer Tan Dun her left. She bows to a wildly cheering crowd. If you're a musician, it doesn't get any better than that.

Together they are opening the 118th season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra with a rousing rendition of Heaven Earth Mankind, the symphony Tan Dun composed to celebrate the 1997 reunification of Hong Kong. Simpson has trained her 75 singers, ages eight to 14, to perform the complex music in Chinese.

Founder of the renowned Performing Arts at Lincoln School (PALS) children's chorus in Brookline, Mass., Simpson is on a roll. She and her students have performed at Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center with such stars as Celine Dion and Frederica Von Stade. To help the children memorize difficult scores, Simpson invents contests and game shows with candy prizes.

Listen to her lead PALS on the CDs Holiday Pops, One Fine Hour, and Henri Dutillleux's tribute to Anne Frank, The Shadows of time.

Simpson '74's children were tliefhigh notp of the BSO season.