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The St. Thomas Chamber Singers held its second annual musical theater concert Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1.
Choir members performed solos, duets and ensemble pieces, and each performance featured different acts, except for the full-choir pieces at the beginning and end of the concert.
Junior Aaron Behnke conducted the Chamber Singers’ first piece, “Seasons of Love” from “Rent.” As a vocal music education major, Behnke has taken conducting classes at St. Thomas, but said this was his first time conducting a large group.
“It was a little nerve-wracking, but it felt really good,” Behnke said. “I was prepared really well.”
Freshman Callie Wilson performed “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz.” Wilson said she was nervous for her solo but found a way to cope with it.
“Usually I try to channel all those nerves into positive energy, and I think that might have paid off for me today,” Wilson said.
Along with showcasing students’ individual talents, the concert also allowed students to be creative and take a more light-hearted approach to the pieces they performed.
A group of women embellished their performance of Grease’s “It’s Raining on Prom Night” by wearing prom dresses and using umbrellas as props. Their makeup looked runny as if they had been caught in the rain.
A small group of men decided to entertain the audience with “Men in Tights,” and their attire adhered to the song’s title. Sophomore Tommy Glass said the group was deciding between a couple other songs but chose this one because “it was short, it was funny and we got to wear tights.”
Glass also had a solo performance of “Dracula’s Lament” in the show.
“I was really close to doing a normal song, but I thought that this would be funnier,” he said. “It turned out pretty well,I thought.”
Freshman Trevor Rolando said the choir “put a lot of hard work into it [and] it turned out to be really fun.”
Wilson said the concert was a “wonderful way to showcase everyone’s talent.” She said the choir has “so many different styles of singing that we can’t even experience until we have a concert like this.”
A reception in the Brady Educational Center lobby following the concert gave some students the opportunity to share their music.
Senior Heather Bartlett, junior Andrew Smith and sophomore Tyler Nelson gave out CDs and collected donations in hope of making their music known.
“I don’t really care about making sales, I just want people to hear my music,” Nelson said. “That’s why I make it – for people to listen to.”
Rita Kovtun can be reached at kovt1547@stthomas.edu.