An old joke says that a pedestrian on Fifty-seventh Street in Manhattan stopped Jascha Heifetz, the famous violinist, and asked, “Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”

“Yes,” replied Heifetz. “Practice!”

Members of Guilderland High School’s chamber choir did just that, and they have been invited to perform in the Heritage Festivals’ Elite Performance Series at the world-famous Carnegie Hall next March.

“There’s a strenuous audition process,” Laura Mann, spokeswoman for Heritage Festivals, told The Enterprise. “Groups submit taped materials to a panel of adjudicators.”

But Guilderland’s choir, she said, was able to bypass this process “because this group scored so highly at our festival…They’ve already shown their great talent,” said Mann.

Under the direction of RaeJean Teeter, the choir was awarded a Gold rating for a superior performance during the Boston Heritage Festival, which earned it the invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall. Teeter could not be reached for comment.

“Across three different festivals, we have approximately 1,000 high school students selected to sing from across the country,” said Mann, “so the fact that this choir was chosen is, indeed, very impressive.” Last year, hundreds of schools competed for the honor, she said.

The Guilderland choir will have a choice of two performance dates — from March 2 through 5 or from March 16 to 19, Mann said. The choice is often made based on which conductor they’d like to work with she said.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer