Written By: Lucy McPherson, Staff Writer and Olivia McPherson, Staff Writer
SUPERIOR: Poly Choir receives amazing scores at their latest festival.
As festival season comes to a close, Poly’s choir celebrates their decorated performances. With hours of practice under their belt, students come prepared to perform. The Festival consists of a performance score and a sight reading score. The performance score is based on specific songs chosen by each director while the sight reading score is determined by the choir’s ability to learn new music on the fly, both of which are judged by a panel of adjudicators..
One varsity choir, Bella Voce, specializes in being an all-treble ensemble. This year, they performed “Weevily Wheat” composed by Shawn Kirchner, “Take This Gift” written by Tracy Wong, and the classic “Times They Are A’Changin’” by Bob Dylan. Ariel Connell (10) shared that her “favorite song would definitely have to be ‘Take This Gift.’” This song seems to have been a favorite within the choir. During the sight reading portion of the festival, Sophia Castro said that the “melodic sight reading could have gone better” but the rhythmic sight reading went very well. Overall, Bella Voce got Superior for their performance and Excellent for sight reading.
Poly’s mixed varsity choir, Chamber Singers, also received Superior rankings at the festival this year. The songs they performed were “Il Lampo” composed by Ryan Main, “Can We Sing The Darkness To Light” composed by Kyle Pederson, and “Oh! What A Beautiful City” composed by Shawn Kirshner. Sydney Smith (11) shared that her favorite song was “Il Lampo” while Leo Kretz (11) believed that the best song was “Oh! What A Beautiful City.” Kretz shared that the group could have “enhanced our macro and micro dynamics throughout each song.” Smith wanted to work on her timing during those songs. With this choir’s high musical and sight-reading talent, it is no surprise that they excelled at this year’s festival.
Finally, the Concert Choir, a non-auditioned group, had a wonderful performance at their festival. Their repertoire consisted of “Festival Sanctus” by John Leavitt, “Ad Astra” composed by Jacob Narverud, and “Dulaman” composed by Celtic Woman. Sophia Castro (9) shared that her “favorite song was Festival Sanctus.” This choir would like to improve on their volume and dynamics. The Concert Choir received Excellent ratings for their performance and sight reading.
These choirs are all now preparing for their Disney themed Pops Concert on Tuesday, April 29. Be sure to come out and support all of these amazing performers!