Choir sings the night away at annual Winter Concert

All the choirs of CVHS held their winter concert on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The Center for the Arts was crammed full with friends and family of the talented singers, leaving barely any empty seats.

Vocal Ensemble started out the night with the unique song “Ule Lume Lagedale.” More than 100 students effortlessly weaved together a foreign song of a tranquil ride through the snow. Within seconds the crowd was memorized by the new tune to the point of when the last note disappeared from the air, there was a brief silence before applause roared from every corner.

The choir continued to perform exceptionally well for its second song, but it didn’t even come to the beauty of the finale, “Stand Together.” While choir teacher Laryssa Sadoway summed up the two songs and the performances ahead, drummers Sara Choi and Zachary Deigert prepared to join in this fun song. The added instrumentals surprisingly did not cover up the sopranos nor altos, but instead blended together, and accented them.

Madrigals went on stage shortly after, and sang various traditional songs such as “The Holly and the Ivy.” This ended though when Sadoway stepped off the stage, and gave free range to her students for “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.” Everyone burst out laughing at the tale of “Rudy,” which he was dubbed that night. And with that song at a close, the concert went into a ten-minute intermission while the all-women’s choir Les Chanteuses prepared to be on center stage.

In the section of the concert, there were plenty of cultural holiday songs, which if done wrong, could completely lose their meaning. This did not happen, every song such as “Lamma” and  “Badaa Yathanna,” sang by Les Chants, or “Ere Shel Shoshanim,” by A Capella, the pronunciations were accurate and clear. Sadoway explained that students who were from the countries that the songs were from helped as much as possible with the pronunciations.

There were plenty of volunteers who helped pull off that festive night. Allier Manahan, the dedicated man who played piano, has been accompanying the choir for eight years now. And this year they decided to try some Piano Instrumental R&B Beats, to change things up from the previous years. Janet Steidel, a retired choir teacher from Canyon Middle School, along with retired teacher Sue Williams and Monica Herendeen, who is part of the computer support at CVHS, played the hand bells in “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming.”

“I must say that my favorite song to sing was most definitely ‘Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming,’” said sophomore Karissa Turney. “The effect of the bells was really fun to work with.”

        The whole mood though really came together when all the groups sang “Simple Gifts,” which was also the title of the choral concert. Together, despite their various singing abilities and grades, they were able to sing a gorgeous song. The main lyrics of the song “Tis a gift to be joyful, ‘tis a gift just to sing, To celebrate life in every living thing,” really wrapped up the night, before the final song. As per tradition, CVHS alumni of all ages were invited on stage for “Hallelujah.”