M.A. choirs unite for Fall Vocal Festival

The choir programs from all grades performed Oct. 6 in the all-school Fall Vocal Festival, officially called “Let it shine!”

This concert’s theme was to shine your light and talents for the world to see, in this case music. The participants included lower-school choral singers, the middle school choirs, as well as the Women’s Chorale, the Men’s Choir, Singers and the Madrigal Singers from the upper school.

The concert started with a piece called Come, You Thankful People, Come by Michael D. Costello. All choir groups sang this piece together, and the audience was encouraged to sing along as well.

The concert then continued, from youngest to oldest, with the lower schoolers first singing three songs (Riversong, Bwana Awabariki and Praise to the Lord), and then the middle school choirs singing three songs (Inscription of Hope, The Water is Wide and Wade in the Water).

The upper-school choirs joined the middle schoolers to sing Shalom, Pacem, Peace, a song sung in English, Latin and Hebrew. This song also featured freshman Laura Shea on cello and seniors Annie Warnke and Elizabeth Chun on violin.

To start the upper-school portion of the festival, the Women’s Chorale sang two songs: Like As A Father by Luigi Cherubini and Be Simple Little Children by Bob Chilcott. Both were absolutely beautiful and really accented each singer’s voice. The Women’s Chorale is made up of mostly freshmen.

The Men’s Choir sang Who Will Be A Witness? by Donald Moore and Steal Away by Howard Helvey. Steal Away featured freshman Greta Hallberg playing a beautiful flute solo to accompany the song.

Next, the Madrigal Singers sang Give Us This Day by Ward Swingle and I Can Tell the World by Moses Hogan. Give Us This Day was a slow, moving song that was almost hymn-like, while I Can Tell the World was more upbeat and energetic, accenting individual voices in the group.

At this point the concert was interrupted by President Donna Harris announcing the honors and opportunities that the Minnehaha choirs will take part in this year. This year, there is something special happening in each different choir, which is a great achievement.

To finish up the amazing concert, the Singers performed O-re-mi: A Nigerian “Highlife” Song by Mike Brewer. This song included a percussion ensemble with freshman Annika Larson and juniors Harry Wold, Megan Whitney and Ingrid Snook. They also performed Loch Lomond by Jonathan Quick. This song had a Scottish flare with two amazing soloists, seniors Annie Warnke and Matt Ganter.

The concert ended with a song performed by all of the participants from every grade, including a solo from Harris. The song was called This Little Light of Mine by Joel Raney.

Overall, Minnehaha’s singers really had the chance to let their lights shine. The school community will be eagerly anticipating the Christmas concert on Dec. 11.