Six choirs shined in the All-Choirs Concert on February 24. Due to the pandemic, the concert had been canceled for the past three years.

Lower Division, Middle Division, Treble Choir, Glee Club, Concert Glee Club, and the newly formed Faculty/Staff Choir each performed at least one song individually. Everyone crammed onto the Gross Theater stage to close out the concert with “Beautiful City” by Stephen Schwartz and “When I Grow Up” from “Matilda the Musical.”

With so many ensembles performing in one concert, organizing all of the moving pieces took a lot of communication and careful planning for both the faculty and the students, Music Department Chair Timothy Ho said.

“I knew that the older kids in all of the ensembles knew how to do this concert, but this was the first time that younger kids got to experience something like this.” After a long hiatus, Ho felt emotional being on stage as a community for the first time in three years, he said. “It felt so good to make music together, doing what we all loved.” 

In Ho’s tenure at the school, there had never been a faculty choir, but the idea had been in the works for a few years, Ho said. “The biggest outlier for me was the faculty choir since I didn’t know how many people would show up, with such a little amount of time to rehearse.” 

Dr. Avner Halevy, a first year teacher at the school, enjoyed getting to know more members of the community through the concert, he said. “I don’t know a lot of people besides the teachers from the math department, so it was a great experience getting to know more people and sing along with them.”

The faculty choir rehearsed after school six times, with only thirty minutes for each rehearsal, Halevy said. “The people from the music department are very professional. They had all of the tracks ready for us to listen at home to practice with for people who can’t read music, like myself.”

Jared Contant (12), a member of Concert Glee, watched all of the performances before their set, he said. “It’s so great to see each group in their choir journey, and to reminisce on my own experiences in those ensembles.” A touching moment for Contant was when the seniors had their solo in “When I Grow Up,” the final piece of the concert. “Not only did we rock it on stage, but to have a chance to show what we’ve developed over the course of six years as a group was a really cool experience.”

Ensemble members’ quick takes:

“I really enjoyed how the MD performed the Hawaiian song when they added hand gestures and movements. It was very synchronized and I loved the way Mr.Ho organized and choreographed the piece.”

• Sylvie Freidberg (10), Concert Glee

“I liked how everyone came together. Especially after COVID, it felt really good to finally be performing in person with every group.”

• Jiwan Kim (10), Glee Club

“Being in Treble Choir, we had to be behind the stage while everyone was performing so we could hear really well and I felt like I was a part of the music.”

• Jiya Chatterjee (12), Treble Choir and Glee Club

“I enjoyed the range at the last piece, from youngest student to oldest teacher, it was a moving mix of perspectives and a lovely feeling of the community.”

• Dr. Avner Halevy, Faculty/Staff Choir