The Chamber Singers perform “Duel of the Fates” from “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” Photo credit: Hunter Foote
With more than 250 spectators filling the seats and covering the floor in the Munson Recital Hall on Friday, April 11, the Chamber Singers kicked off the last performance of the year at 8 p.m., focusing on composers’ works appearing in various films.
The concert covered three different types of composers: those who made their name in film composition, whose music first filled concert halls but was later brought to the big screen, and those who never intended for their music to be used in cinema.
“Our goal is to explore the breadth and depth of music in film,” Michelle Jensen, the Chamber Singers conductor told the audience just before she started the concert.
The compositions selected showed a variety of genres and history of film from the starting piece “Duel of the Fates,” which appeared in “Star Wars,” to a version of “Tonight” from “West Side Story,” to “Deliver Us” piece featured in Dreamworks’ “The Prince of Egypt.”
In the opening song, “Duel of the Fates,” Jenson conducted the Chamber Singers with a light-up baton, symbolizing a lightsaber from “Star Wars.”
Ministry and graphic design double major Ilse Gomez, a spectator at the event, said one of her favorite performances was “Nocturnes,” a composition that uses Palo Neruda’s poem, “Soneto De La Noche.” Since Gomez’s first language is Spanish, she understood the lyrics and called the performance “touching.”
Another of Gomez’ favorites was “Do-Re-Mi” from “The Sound of Music.” Last summer a group of Chamber Singers sang the song for a competition and won awards for the rendition. According to junior commercial music major Steven Schmidt, the piece was meant to be a “cultural ice breaker.”
The seniors of Chamber Singers, led by Masters student Deborah Apodaca, sing a surprise ending song for Director Michelle Jenson. Photo credit: Hunter Foote
The group, which now includes both current and former Chamber Singers, reunited on stage to sing it again for this concert and had the audience laughing with performance antics.
Schmidt, who leads the bass section and did the arrangement for the vocal and orchestra score of “Deliver Us,” said this year served as a step back for the singers after they toured internationally last summer, making this year more fun in many ways.
“For me personally, Chamber Singers … the entire process and the people … is an incredible experience that I’ve been so thankful to be a part of for the past three years now,” Schmidt said.
After the supposed final performance of “Miracle and Finale” from the movie “Ben-Hur,” Jensen joked with the packed crowd to talk to administrators about getting a larger hall.
But the concert really ended with a performance that was a complete surprise to Jensen, as seven-year Chamber Singers member Deborah Apodaca led the group in singing a farewell song. The performance left Jensen in tears as all the senior Chamber Singers who are graduating gathered at the front of the stage to serenade her their farewell from the concert.
Although it was the final performance of the year, Jensen announced that there will be a reunion concert sometime next year to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of Chamber Singers. Dates are to be announced.