Ice Auditorium echoed with the music and lyrics of the Linfield College Men’s Glee Club, Women’s Vocal Ensemble and Concert Choir at the Spring Choral Concert on May 16.
The Men’s Glee Club opened the event with an Irish-American folk song titled “Fillimiooriay.” The group incorporated dance moves into the piece. They sang a total of four songs, and the last one was performed with the Women’s Vocal Ensemble.
The Women’s Vocal Ensemble, in addition to the shared song, also sang four songs. The shared song featured solos from the women’s ensemble.
“It wasn’t bad because I’ve sung in front of larger crowds, but the fact that it was my first time singing at Linfield made me a little bit more nervous,” freshman soloist Brittany Baker said. “Otherwise, though, the song was pretty fun, so I tried to perform it and interpret it the best I could.”
The Women’s Vocal Ensemble sang two classical pieces and the final song, “Shiru,” was sung in Hebrew.
After the group was finished, the Linfield College Concert Choir took the stage.
The Concert Choir began its part of the show by spreading out on the stage, in front of the stage and in the audience on the second floor. The staging created a musical experience that surrounded the audience from all sides.
Freshman Mariah Vander Shaaf, a soprano in the Linfield College Concert Choir, said the choir practiced for a considerable amount of time on all their songs.
“We’ve been practicing since we got back from spring break,” she said. “It’s really fun. We’ve all gotten really close with each other, but it’s been really hard work. We meet three times a week for an hour, and then we have sectionals once a week for about 30 minutes.”
While hard work and practice helped the choir, its director was an essential component.
“Anna Song [assistant professor of music and choral director] makes sure everything is perfect. So running through things again and again is something that took a while to get used to,” Vander Shaaf said.
One audience member commented on how well she thought the performance went.
“I thought it was really well done — especially the Concert Choir’s pieces, freshman Anna Statz said. “‘Dubula’ and ‘The Storm is Passing Over’ were really incredible. I’m sad I didn’t make it to more concerts.”
Diantha Beckham
Freelancer
Diantha Beckham can be reached at [email protected]