Upper school choirs perform at annual spring choral concert

Praveen Batra

Downbeat and trumpet player Jack Farnham (10) rehearse their collaboration on “Trashin’ the Camp” by Phil Collins.

Bel Canto, Downbeat, Guys’ Gig, Camerata and Cantilena performed in the annual spring choral concert, “In Concert: Pastiche,” on April 30.

Bel Canto opened the concert, performing “Bring Me a Little Water, Silvy,” “Tres canciones de los elementos,” “Imagine” and “Walk, Children, Walk!”

Downbeat performed after Bel Canto. Before the concert, Caroline Howells (12) commented on her expectations for the concert as a senior in Downbeat.

“It’s definitely sentimental for us,” Caroline said. “We do have a few more performances for Downbeat, but this is the last one where it’s really all the choirs of the Upper School being together.”

Downbeat began with “Lullabye.” They then performed “Trashin’ the Camp,” which featured Jack Farnham (10) playing the trumpet.

Jennifer Sandusky, Director of Bel Canto and Musical Director of Downbeat, commented on the collaboration between Downbeat and Jack.

“It gave the singers a really great opportunity to see how a great musician works in terms of jazz improvisation,” Sandusky said. “That collaboration was a real educational experience for everyone, including myself.”

Downbeat then performed “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

“[A] traditional Downbeat song is Bridge Over Troubled Water, and it’s going to be our last time singing that tonight,” Downbeat member Madi Lang­Ree (12) said before the concert. “That’s going to be pretty sentimental for us, and then we also are getting honored tonight as seniors.”

Downbeat and Bel Canto then performed “On Top of the World” together.

“For the Bel Canto and Downbeat collaboration, that’s something that I’ve just made a goal of doing every year because I think it gives the Bel Canto kids an opportunity to sing repertoire with the older kids and to have that experience of singing up to that level,” Sandusky said.

Guys’ Gig followed Downbeat, performing “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “The Harker Work Ethic Song,” a parody of Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song.” Guys’ Gig and Camerata then performed “Dragonborn Theme” from “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.”

After an intermission, Camerata performed “Vox Populi,” “How High the Moon” and “Sleep Song.”

“I think [the concert] went very well as a whole,” Camerata member Elina Sendonaris (11) said. “My favorite song was Sleep Song.”

Cantilena concluded the concert. They first performed “Erin Hennlein weiß,” a Renaissance song by Antonio Scandelli about chickens.

Next, they performed “Songbird” by Sarah Quartel and the Bollywood song “Barso Re” by Allah­Rakha Rahman. Ishanya Anthapur (12) would have conducted “Barso Re” but was unable to attend the concert.

Agata Sorotokin (12) conducted the last song of the concert, “How Can I Keep from Singing?”

The choirs will sing together at the Upper School graduation ceremony on May 23.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on May 13, 2015.