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By ELISE RIO
Staff Writer
The University High School (UHS) choir program put on its Fall Concert, the first concert of the year, on Tuesday, October 28th, featuring artists from the UHS choirs Concert Chorale and Madrigals under the direction of Mr. Justin Olvey (Visual and Performing Arts Dept.) as well as two student-run a cappella groups: Undertones and Footnotes. The choir was accompanied by Danica Silan (Jr.) on the piano.
The concert served as a brief, hour-long introduction to what the choir department will be working on throughout the year. The choir members performed mostly classical music, including German, Italian and Latin pieces, but with an added modern style to the songs. Some of the memorable pieces included “O Magnum,” performed by Madrigals and “Run to You” by Bryan Adams, sung by Footnotes. Footnotes and Undertones impressed the audience with their ability to blend their voices harmoniously and the strong vocal percussion, or beatboxing. Kevin Ho (Jr.), a member of both Madrigals and Footnotes, said, “The entire concert ran smoothly and was a wonderful opportunity to showcase our talents.”
This concert is different from choir’s typical performances in both repertoire and style. Billy Huang (Jr.), a member of Footnotes, said, “It was a really nice experience to sing old classical music and have [the performance] contrast with the future concerts we will perform at.” In addition to the choir performances, several soloists were featured throughout the night, including Megan McCarthy (Sr.). McCarthy did an especially phenomenal job on her vocally demanding solo, “Caro Nome,” from the opera Rigoletto that showcased her strong and clear vocals.
Overall, the audience was impressed with the choir’s performance on Tuesday night. Sophia Bajak (Jr.) said, “I thought it was so good! There was a great variety of voices from all the different choirs and solo acts, and I liked how they put modern twists to traditional songs.”
The Fall Choir Concert was a great kick-off to the year for the choir department. Each song was expertly picked and well-introduced. The performers sang with passion, showing not only their talent but also their potential for the upcoming year’s performances. The next choir concert will be held on December 16.
