By Beckett Navarrette
Staff Writer
The Vocal Ensemble attended the Biola Choir Festival on Nov. 6 at Biola University and the Advanced Women’s Choir will attend the Redlands festival on Nov. 20 at Redlands University.
At the Biola Choir Festival, the Vocal Ensemble sang for the Director of Choral Activities at University of Washington Dr. Geoffrey Boer, and eight to ten other choirs.
“I enjoyed listening to the other choirs and picking out my favorites,” Vocal Ensemble President Calyssa Frankel said.
The festival offered two clinics for Choirs to work one-on-one with Dr. Boers; the Vocal Ensemble opted to take one of them. Once the clinics were over, the Ensemble performed Rise Up My Love by Daniel Pinkham, Jesu Meine Freude by Bach and Gloria by John Rutter, all of which were chosen by Hayden.
“I enjoy the songs, they are fun to sing as well as listen to,” Frankel said. “Mr. Hayden chooses songs that challenge us and we always rise to the occasion.”
Unfortunately, the Vocal Ensemble had some difficulty rising to the occasion during the festival. Although the Ensemble has not received their official critiques from Dr. Boers, according to Frankel, their performance was mediocre.
“It went okay.” Frankel said, “We have done better that’s for sure, we didn’t get as much time to rehearse as we normally do so we weren’t as prepared.
The Redlands Choir Festival, which is sponsored by the Redlands High School, will take place at the Redlands University’s chapel. There, the chorus of 45 sophomores, juniors and seniors will display their hallmark emotional performances.
“Our trademark as a choir has always been having an emotional connection with our audience and really moving them, as a group of strong independent young women.” Advanced Women’s Choir Co-President junior Gaby Guerrero said.
The Choir will be performing with six other women’s choirs and will receive commentary from a panel of two university professors who will be commenting. They will be performing Resonet in Laudibus by Z. Randall Stroope, Sudden Light by Donna Gartman Schultz, and Gloria by Nancy Hill Cobb, all of which are chosen by Hayden
“For the Festival, I’m looking forward to being ‘out’ as a choir for the first time by ourselves, showcasing what we can do in a setting where we are getting feedback and critique.” Guerrero said, “I like this choice of songs this year, some are tough but they are very beautiful and we have been working very hard.”
The Advanced Women’s choir offers many opportunities not available in the basic class such as attending this festival. Another such opportunity is the chance to collaborate with other choirs around Los Angeles.
“At the moment we are working on a song that is around 11 minutes long which we will perform with a Los Angeles Choir called Vox Femmena.” Advanced Women’s Choir member Claire Layden said.
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