The Linfield College Concert Choir, Women’s Vocal Ensemble, and Wildcat Men’s Glee Club presented a Musical Bouquet on Sunday, May 14th, in ICE auditorium.

The concert began with a dedication to the Mom’s out there. The concert had a theme of flowers, home, and Moms. The concert was a “bouquet” of many different styles and genres.

To kick of the music the choirs combined to perform “Ave Maria” by Franz Biebl. Featuring solos from Parker Wells and Grey Patterson.

Then the Men’s Glee Club took center stage and performed four songs. They began with a well known John Lennon song, “Let it Be,” featuring a handful of soloists. Geoffrey Rath, Jason Rodriguez, Jake Handran, and William McCuen all showed off their voices during solos. Then they switched gears to perform “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables. Next came “M-O-T-H-E-R,” written by Theodore F Morse and arranged by Kirk Roose. This allowed some of the members to tell stories of their mother and give them thanks on this Mother’s Day. The Glee Club finished off with an upbeat number called, “Hakuna Mungu” which featured Mihretabe Gizaw on the djembe and JP Bierly on the caxixi.

Following the Glee Club was the Women’s Vocal Ensemble. They began with “Music In My Mother’s House” arranged by David Moore. Followed by “Call of the Flowers,” from the opera “Lakame.” Staying in the Mother’s Day spirit, the Ensemble sang “Thulele Mama Ya” which included Jamie Foglesong on the djembe and Louise Gjesdal on the shekere. Then came “Tell My Ma,” an upbeat tribute to the Mother’s in the audience and featuring a solo by Leila Wiggers and Daniel Stueber on the spoons. To round out their set the Vocal Ensemble sang “Ave Maria” by David MacIntyre, according to Deizhanna Kaya-Abad, “Ave Maria was a very had song for all of us, and after singing through it at the concert I felt like we accomplished something great.”

The Linfield Concert Choir then took the stage to perform “Dirait-on” (No. 5 from Les Chansons des Roses) by Morten Lauridson, before a short intermission to change the set-up on stage.

The Choir then performed alongside three guest professionals for a six part, 40 minute piece. The performance included “Missa Sancti Nicolai, Hob XXII:6.” The choir was joined by soprano Amy Hansen, mezzo soprano Sarah Maines, tenor Daniel Weeks and baritone Anton Belov. Bevlov is an associate professor of music at Linfield while Hansen, Weeks, and Maines are all professionals. As well as an orchestra consisting of oboes, violins, french horns, a viola, cello, bass, and organ for their final piece.

The final piece had six parts, “I. Kyrie Eleison” which featured Jamie Foglesong, Hope Hudson, Weeks, and Nathan Perez, followed by “II. Gloria in excels is” which soloed Katie Higinbotham. “III. Credo” followed highlighting the voices of Weeks, Bevlov, Maines, and Hansen along with the choir. The choir continued on with “IV. Sanctus” which allowed the entire concert choir to come together with their voices. Which flowed in to “V. Benedictus” which once again promoted the voices of the professional singers that joined the choir just before they finished with “VI. Agnus Dei.” After completing the sixth section the choir was applauded by the audience and were obviously proud of what they had just accomplished.

Sophomore Adrian Iu said that he was most proud of the choir and himself for “being able to sing and stand on stage for a 40-minute piece without taking a water break” – which can be a very daunting task, but the Concert Choir did it.

This was the final concert of the year, and the final concert for the seniors. Kaya-Abad said, “It was really bittersweet! I have been in the Women’s Ensemble for almost every semester that I have been a student here at Linfield, so it was sad to sing with these women that I have gotten to know over the semester, and some of them over the past four years. But overall it was great to finish this official last concert for me singing some challenging and beautiful songs!”

But it was not only the Seniors who were emotional about their final concert. Freshman Audrey Collen added, “As a Freshman, I look up to the Seniors a lot when it comes to adjusting to choir in college, and having great role models in choir is something I really value. I am going to miss them, and I am very thankful for everything they have done for the choir!”