The KHS choirs came together for a wonderful pre-festival concert Wednesday, March 2.

The concert was to prepare for the festival A Capella members will be performing in later this month.

With the day being a snow day, I had nothing going on, and I was happy to find out the concert was not postponed to a later date.

I love choir concerts. I do not know much about the mechanics of singing, but I like to hear the beautiful, melodious sounds that comes out of the mouths of fellow Kearsley students.

Before the concert began, Mrs. Renee Kotzian, choir director, talked to the audience about how this concert was the second concert she has ever had to move the date for because of the weather. She thanked the audience for showing up.

Kotzian also said that since there were so many snow days, the choirs were only able to get two rehearsals in before the concert.

This meant that the students had to do a good job remembering what they were singing. And, to me, they did remember wonderfully.

The night began with the Women’s Chorus taking the stage, performing “Do-Re-Mi” from “The Sound of Music” (composed by Rodgers and Hammerstein).

The song brought me back to elementary school choir, where my class at Fiedler and I would sing the song all the time. The way the chorus sang, it gave the song a pretty sound.

The second song was “Americana Folk Song Suite” by Luigi Zaninelli. I thought the song had a great melody to it, and it was so well put together that I could tell when one song was fading into another.

Senior Leslie Brissette took the stage next and performed a wonderful rendition of “Oh, What A Beautiful City,” arranged by Edward Boatner.

Her voice truly was beautiful and she came in with a wonderfully strong finish.

Jacobi Wright, junior, came to the stage next and slowed things down a bit. He sang “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes” by John W. Metcalf.

He looked a little nervous at the beginning of the song, but once he got comfortable, he finished it loudly and proudly. I honestly did not know Wright could perform in the way that he did.

Men’s Chorus sang next, opening with Donald Moore’s arrangement of “New River Train.”

It was kind of shocking how few people were on the stage. I was used to seeing more faces, but there were some that were not present.

When singing “New River Train,” the choir was a little quiet at the beginning (I’m going to assume it was because less people were there than usual and they had not been able to practice too much), but they became louder the further they got into the song.

With the next song, “Now is the Month of Maying” (Thomas Morley), the chorus also started off quietly, but they came back for a louder finish.

“Frog Went A-Courtin’,” arranged by Audrey Snyder, was the final song the chorus sang. This song was my favorite one.

Before the song began, Kotzian said that there was a story she had to tell. Because of the poor weather, she said, some of the soloists were not at the concert and there had to be some last-minute replacements.

I really liked this performance because the students got into the beat with clapping and loud singing. The two soloists, senior Zack Broughton and junior Zachary Zeh, were hilarious with their speaking parts.

Senior Deanna Wirth then sang “Love Has Eyes” by Sir Henry Bishop. Her voice was lovely, and the song stuck to being upbeat like the Men’s Chorus finale.

“Passing By,” (Edward Purcell) performed by junior Josh Parker, was next. I remembered seeing Parker perform “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” last year, and I hoped his performance this year would be just as great.

Parker looked a little nervous in the beginning, but he sang with a nice sound.

Senior Sarah Glover took the stage next, performing Jay Althouse’s arrangement of “Aupres de Ma Blonde.”

I was surprised to see her on the stage. From what I know of Glover, she is relatively quiet. When singing, the song reflected that quietness, but she did a wonderful job pronouncing the French words (the whole song is in French).

I was proud of Glover for getting out there and doing a good job.

The after-school Melody Makers performed next. They started with “Sing We and Chant it” by Thomas Morley. They were loud and beautiful-sounding, as per usual.

With the next song, “Something Told the Wild Geese” (Sherri Porterfield), the group slowed things down a bit. I really liked the way they pronounced the words of the song.

They then performed Robin Pecknold’s “White Winter Hymnal,” my favorite song of the night. I could tell it was a Melody Makers favorite as well.

The song had an overall great flow to it, and though it sounded cheerful, when looking into the lyrics, it became dark.

Freshman Claudia Moore took the stage next, singing “Into the Night” by Clara Edwards. Her performance was my favorite solo. It was filled with emotion, and she sang loudly and proudly.

I knew Moore could cheer, but I had no idea she was such a great singer.

Broughton sang next, performing “Danza, Danza Fancuillia” by Francesco Durante.

Broughton is a crowd-favorite among concertgoers. His pronunciation of the Italian lyrics was phenomenal. He is bound to get a Supreme at the upcoming festival.

A Capella was the last group of the night. The singers opened with Rollo Dilworth’s arrangement of “Swingin’ Sweet Chariot.” This was my favorite of their performances. There were many more people present, and they sang loudly.

I really liked seeing everyone moving to the beat. One person that stood out to me who was really feeling the song was senior Justice Free. I loved seeing her swaying to the beat.

The song’s ending also sounded amazing.

“The Ash Grove” (Lind Spevacek) was next. I liked how the song went one-group-of-voices at a time, and then ended with everyone coming together.

A Capella then sang “Fly Me to the Moon” by Bart Howard. I remembered hearing the song before from its association with NASA. I liked how cheery the song was, and it had a great ending.

The concert concluded with the traditional “Irish Blessing” (Linda Spevacek). It was performed beautifully, as usual.

Even though the concert had to be postponed twice and many of the singers were not present, the pre-festival concert was still a success.

I think the students singing at the festival will do great.

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