Longwood’s choral department presented a jam-packed concert centered around the theme, “All Nature Sings” on Monday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Jarman auditorium.
The concert featured Pitch Perfect, Lady Joan’s, High Street Harmony, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Choir, along with University Women’s Choir, University Men’s Choir and the Camerata Singers. The concert began under the direction of Choral Director Dr. Pamela McDermott with the choirs combined together to sing a beautiful and moving arrangement of “Alleluia” by Professor of Music Dr. Gordon Ring.
Audience member, Alex Jolly remarked, “It was the perfect song to begin the concert, and it made me really excited to hear the rest.” Then, the Women’s Select Ensembles took the stage under the direction of Kathryn Perry, a Longwood University choral music education student. The two ensembles performed “Salmo 150,” the Latin translation of Psalm 150 along with “Popule Meus,” another Latin song involving a call and response between God and his people.
These two songs were not only complementary of each other in their meanings, but they flowed nicely together as well. Following the Women’s Select Ensembles were Longwood’s two women’s A Capella groups, Pitch Perfect and the Lady Joan’s.
Unlike the previous performers, these two groups are student organizations that spend countless hours outside of class perfecting their songs and set lists.
Pitch Perfect performed the ever popular “Say Something” made famous by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera, originally written by Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino. The Lady Joan’s then impressed the crowd with a beautiful version of “Gravity,” originally made famous by Sara Bareilles.
After a giant round of applause and a quick set change, the Women’s Choir took the stage for their part of the concert. Their pieces included “The Seal Lullaby” by Eric Whitacre, and “Bumble Bee” by Anders Edenroth.
“The Seal Lullaby,” originally composed for a Disney movie is a serene lullaby with a powerful meaning behind it which was beautifully exhibited by the women’s choir. Ensemble member Kimberly Miller said, “We put a lot of work into these songs, especially ‘Seal Lullaby.’ We’ve been practicing all semester, and I was so proud of how well everything turned out.”
After the women sang their final song, the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Choir began their portion of the concert under the direction of Spenser Smith. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is the men’s music fraternity here at Longwood.
They performed “Sinfonian Motto (Fanfare) and Hail Sinfonia,” a traditional song of the fraternity as well as “Night Shadows Falling,” a beautiful and religious song also traditional to the fraternity.
Longwood University’s men’s a capella group then took the stage by storm with their “doo-op” arrangement of Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop.” After a quick round of applause, the guys then moved on to perform “Can’t Hold Us,” arranged by Sam Andrews. Even though there was a slight mistake in the middle, High Street Harmony was still able to pull off a lovely performance.
High Street Harmony’s impressive performance was immediately followed by Longwood University’s Men’s Choir. The men performed “The Pasture,” one of seven songs composed by Randall Thompson and possibly inspired by poet Robert Frost.
They also performed “Saints Bound for Heaven,” a lively and spiritual piece arranged by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw. Longwood’s prestigious Camerata Singers were the last group to take the stage for their performance of “Verbum caro factum est,” “The Last Words of David” and “The Pasture.”
“The Pasture,” unlike the song the performed previously by the men, was arranged by Z. Randall Stroope. It featured rich, beautiful harmonies and a flowing slow tempo. These three songs were incredibly gorgeous with their complementary flowing melodies and strong vocalists.
Last but not least, the choirs and audience combined voices to sing “Longwood Alma Mater” in celebration of the University’s 175th birthday. The auditorium was overtaken by countless voices and smiles joined together to end the concert in a way that few
