At the recent spring choir concert at Penn-Trafford High School, nearly 100 chorus students took to the stage to perform 30 songs, including popular numbers like “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and “I’m Just Ken” from the movie “Barbie.” This show took place on May 11 at 7 p.m.
Music teacher and choir director Jeffrey Fox said that the concert went really well, and the students did an amazing job.
By order of appearance, the various groups in this show were the P-T Barbershop Harmony Society, Ovation, Encore, Mixed Chorus and Select Choir. Additionally, 20 students performed solos — seniors with solos include Olivia Laubham, Paul Mills, Samatha Wolfe, Kari Leventopoulos, Ruby Wright, Delaney Casavant, Patrick Boyle, Nicolina Ferraro, Sophia Laspina, Jacob Dietz and Ethan Coles. Piano accompaniment was provided by Timothy Coles for the song “Feeling Good” and Jane Boyle for “Corner of the Sky.”
Fox said his favorite song in this concert is “Sleep” by Eric Whitacre, which is based on a poem and is reminiscent of a dream-like state; his other favorite piece is by Ryan Main and is called “Dies Irae,” which means “day of judgment” or “day of reckoning” and is a powerful song with a lot of dynamic contrast.
“I really enjoy our Select [Choir] set this year,” he added.
Fox stated that three primary facets go into planning a chorus concert: the instructional facet, the administrative facet and the advertising facet. The instructional part is selecting the repertoire and teaching the music in class. The administrative aspect includes ensuring the students have a stage crew, transitions and security. The advertising facet is promoting and making sure the community is aware of events.
“There’s so much planning for like a two-hour little snippet of something,” Fox said. “For the kids, it’s physically exhausting and there’s a lot of adrenaline going and you’re just pushing through, and then after it’s over you crash and you’re sore.”
The final song sung was “The Scientist,” in which the 30 seniors stood together and sang the Coldplay song.
Abby Dreistadt, Editor in Chief