Choral fall concert showcases world languages and music
Selected to accompany with professional accompanist Stephanie Ng, senior Hannah Geil and Ng play Banamba on the piano.
October 27, 2014
The Jeanette McLeod theater came alive with world music Tuesday night as the Chorus classes presented their fall concert. The choral groups, as well as a trio and quartet, performed at their best level and showcased NC’s harmonies.
The class includes three choral groups: Intermediate Mixed, made up of mostly freshmen; Bella Voce, the advanced womens choir; and the North Cobb Singers, the top mixed choir. Each group put on three songs with the accompaniment of professional pianist Stephanie Ng and Senior Hannah Geil.
Senior Sade Akinyemi, senior Hannah Geil, and sophomore Logan Peng sing “Edelweiss” in a trio. The three girls auditioned for the parts and worked extensively after school to perfect the performance.
Added to the lineup was a Trio consisting of senior Sade Akinyemi, Geil, and sophomore Logan Peng. The girls sang “Edelweiss,” a song about an Austrian flower, by Richard Rodgers.
“[We] really pulled our song together tonight. We worked hard so far this semester and all of that work paid off,” Peng commented.
North Cobb’s Quartet performed “The Headless Horseman,” arranged by Neel Tyree and C. Hine. Members of the quartet include senior Chris Elsey, Isaiah Alexander, Cain Henderson, and senior Andrew Smart. Their jaunty performance was a major crowd-pleaser.
The concert based around World Music. The group sang in Portuguese, Swahili, Latin, Gaelic, Bosnian, and German. While the new languages posed a challenge, choral director Holly Botella predicted the concert’s success before it began.
“I think it’s going to go very well. The students have been working very hard this year, this concert specifically is going to be a world music concert so a lot of them have been learning new languages for the performance. I’m excited for the audience to hear them,” she praised.
At the end of the night, sophomores, upperclassmen, and alumni converged on stage to honor former chorus director Amy Foster. Mrs. Foster lost her fight with breast cancer in January of 2014, and her death shook her students to the core. The students sang “Tink of Me” with a video of the touching homage is posted below.
Geil summed up the feelings of the whole department, “I’m proud of everyone and how far we’ve come on this journey. I know singing has helped all of us get through the past year’s events, and I know we’re making Mrs. Foster proud.”
North Cobb’s quartet, made up of seniors Chris Elsey, Isaiah Alexander, Cain Henderson, and Andrew Smart, gather around the edge of the stage, belting out “The Headless Horseman” with an old-fashioned gusto.
