Chris Holownia Serenades Red Sox Nation at Fenway Park
There are opportunities that come along once in a lifetime that are simply too hard to ignore. For Chris Holownia one such opportunity presented itself last Saturday and the Rivers foreign language teacher took full advantage of it.
There are opportunities that come along once in a lifetime that are simply too hard to ignore. For Chris Holownia one such opportunity presented itself last Saturday and the Rivers foreign language teacher took full advantage of it.
Through the local Woodland Theatre Company, Holownia had worked with Rob Crawford, director of marketing at the Fay School in Southborough and the Vice President of Red Sox Fan Nation. “Regular Rob,” as he is know to Red Sox fans, has fulfilled his responsibilities in many ways including organizing fill-in performances of the National Anthem at Red Sox games.
This group is known as Regular Rob and the September Call-ups – a reference to the players who fill out Major League Baseball rosters during the final month of the season – and is composed of musically-inclined individuals from Crawford’s circle of friends and family.
This is where Holownia comes in.
When the Red Sox had a cancellation for their Sept. 21 game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Regular Rob called up his usual cast of characters and tabbed Holownia, who sang with the Whiffenpoofs as a Yale undergrad, to direct the group. With the Blue Jays in town, this meant the group would also be singing the Canadian National Anthem.
“I had never sung the Canadian anthem, never even knew what the words were – except for ‘Oh Canada,’ ” Holownia said. “That was the most nerve-racking part. As the conductor you have to be confident and mouth the words and make sure you’re directing everyone in the right way. I was nervous, and I did look down at one point to remember some words, but we got through it.”
The day began at 1:00 p.m. when they were greeted by Red Sox personnel and brought to the luxury suite they would have both to rehearse in for the afternoon and watch the game later that night.
The group stood on the field through the pregame ceremonies before performing and when it was over they were ushered off the field and back to their suite to watch the game. On the way off the field, some Canadian fans in the front row gave them high fives and assured them that they had given an admirable performance of their National Anthem.
With an official attendance of 37,569 on hand for the performance, Holownia said it was by far the largest group he had ever performed for.
“People asked me if I was nervous to perform in front of that many people, but to me performing is performing. It doesn’t matter where you are or who you’re doing it for once you’re in the zone,” Holownia said. “The energy was palpable. It is just how you would imagine it, with the cheers and the roar you can’t really tell how many people there are. It was a very surreal experience.”
The performance was met with rave reviews from friends and family, as well as some members of the Rivers community who were among the thousands in attendance. The Red Sox director of hospitality, who later told them that in all of her years with the team she had seen few better performances than theirs.
For some baseball players, being a September call-up is the closest they ever get to the full-time major-league player experience. Like those players, Holownia and his group of call-ups will always be able to say they stepped on the field at Fenway Park and walked off to a standing ovation.
Click here to watch a video of the performance.
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Through the local Woodland Theatre Company, Holownia had worked with Rob Crawford, director of marketing at the Fay School in Southborough and the Vice President of Red Sox Fan Nation. “Regular Rob,” as he is know to Red Sox fans, has fulfilled his responsibilities in many ways including organizing fill-in performances of the National Anthem at Red Sox games.
This group is known as Regular Rob and the September Call-ups – a reference to the players who fill out Major League Baseball rosters during the final month of the season – and is composed of musically-inclined individuals from Crawford’s circle of friends and family.
This is where Holownia comes in.
When the Red Sox had a cancellation for their Sept. 21 game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Regular Rob called up his usual cast of characters and tabbed Holownia, who sang with the Whiffenpoofs as a Yale undergrad, to direct the group. With the Blue Jays in town, this meant the group would also be singing the Canadian National Anthem.
“I had never sung the Canadian anthem, never even knew what the words were – except for ‘Oh Canada,’ ” Holownia said. “That was the most nerve-racking part. As the conductor you have to be confident and mouth the words and make sure you’re directing everyone in the right way. I was nervous, and I did look down at one point to remember some words, but we got through it.”
The day began at 1:00 p.m. when they were greeted by Red Sox personnel and brought to the luxury suite they would have both to rehearse in for the afternoon and watch the game later that night.
The group stood on the field through the pregame ceremonies before performing and when it was over they were ushered off the field and back to their suite to watch the game. On the way off the field, some Canadian fans in the front row gave them high fives and assured them that they had given an admirable performance of their National Anthem.
With an official attendance of 37,569 on hand for the performance, Holownia said it was by far the largest group he had ever performed for.
“People asked me if I was nervous to perform in front of that many people, but to me performing is performing. It doesn’t matter where you are or who you’re doing it for once you’re in the zone,” Holownia said. “The energy was palpable. It is just how you would imagine it, with the cheers and the roar you can’t really tell how many people there are. It was a very surreal experience.”
The performance was met with rave reviews from friends and family, as well as some members of the Rivers community who were among the thousands in attendance. The Red Sox director of hospitality, who later told them that in all of her years with the team she had seen few better performances than theirs.
For some baseball players, being a September call-up is the closest they ever get to the full-time major-league player experience. Like those players, Holownia and his group of call-ups will always be able to say they stepped on the field at Fenway Park and walked off to a standing ovation.
Click here to watch a video of the performance.
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