By Rachel Wess
Staff Writer
Mira Costa’s vocal ensemble will take a number of trips in the near future to perform in singing conventions. Their excursions include the American Choral Directors Association Western Division and a solo performance at Carnegie Hall.
This month, vocal ensemble went to Cal State Long Beach for a choir festival in which it was viewed by professional judges and other high school choirs from around California.
“They received comments on their performance and also heard around seven other high school choirs sing,” choir teacher Michael Hayden said.
The choir was critiqued on its singing by university music faculty and listened to other schools perform in hopes of learning from their different techniques.
“Vocal Ensemble did well,” senior choir member Aurora Foster said. “We sang our first piece ‘O Vos Omnes’ smoothly, and the judges said we sounded great.”
The competition was held at CSULB on Oct. 26 at 1 p.m. The Mira Costa vocal ensemble was showcased with high schools Murrieta Valley, El Diamante, Marina, Bakersfield, Irvine, Centennial, Golden West and Peninsula.
“We performed in a small auditorium,” junior Elissa Wells said. “There were several advanced Southern California high school choirs there that were very good.”
Students prepared for their festival performance by reviewing their repertoire during choir class and after school. As the date of its performance approached, the choir practiced during nutrition and lunch.
“We’re singing songs from classical periods, one German, one Latin and one English song: ‘O Vos Omnes’ by Carlo Gesualdo, ‘There is Sweet Music’ by Edward Elgar and ‘Richte Mich Gott’ by Felix Mendelssohn,” senior choir member Adam Gerber said.
The vocal ensemble opened the festival with three songs. They received positive reviews from the two adjudicators but no score since it was not a competition.
“I think the most enjoyable performance was by the college from CSULB choir,” Foster said. “They had a wonderful sound that was operatic at times.”
Choir is very busy this year with competitions and festivals. Though this festival was small, the students were able to learn and grow together as a choir.
“It’s a great honor to be selected to perform at this festival with top-notch adjudicators, as well as amazing choirs that we can really learn a lot from,” Wells said.
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