photo courtesy of Christina Lamagna
The choral department celebrated another holiday season with a joyous winter concert, Wed. night. Choirs ranging from all grades performed both familiar Christmas and Hanukkah classics and some interesting new tunes.
Men’s Choir, Las Cantadoras (women’s choir), Select Choir, Sensations (a capella group) and Chamber Choir performed songs in English, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, and Estonian.
Concert Choir, the non-audition elective group, ended the night, featuring members of the freshman through senior class. This ensemble practices in school every day, and the other auditioned groups meet once or twice a week after school.
photos courtesy of Eliza Kuperschmid
Choir teacher, Jan Allen was on maternity leave for most of last year and was unable to attend the 2014 Winter Concert. She was ecstatic to be back with the program this year.
“It was like a reunion with my students,” Allen said. “I thought it was really great. One of the things I really love about the winter concert is that it’s the first time of the year that all of the new choirs sing together and especially for the freshmen it’s a really exciting time and I thought that all the groups did an excellent job.”
Dan Zheng, a senior member of Moonglowers and Wind Ensemble, sat at the piano bench for most of the night. He served as the main accompanist tackling multiple difficult classical pieces.
“I started [accompanying for choir] in fifth grade when my middle school chorus teacher asked me to do it and I’ve just really enjoyed doing it since,” said Zheng. “And even though I’m not in the after-school choirs I really enjoy coming here and playing.” The talented pianist believes the experience has helped him improve his musicianship.
“I’m really excited to get started on new music!” – Jan Allen
The next choir concert is “Cabaret Night,” celebrating compositions from the Broadway stage. It will be held on February 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium.
