Amidst the soft glow of the stained glass windows in Setnor Auditorium, approximately 100 students prepared to go on stage. On Tuesday, five university choirs got together for the Choral Collage Concert, which started at 8 p.m. in Crouse College.

The five groups —University Singers, Windjammer Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Hendricks Chapel Choir, Women’s Choir and the Concert Choir — were all part of the show, which was free to the public. People of all ages filled the audience, anxiously waiting for the show to begin.

John Warren, an associate professor and director of choral activities, said the Choral Collage Concert has been happening for two years, and is just one of many musical experiences for the students at SU to come out and enjoy.

“Each choir sings a couple of pieces,” he said. “It’s very nice, it’s very fun.”

He said it’s important for students to come out to these performances because they expand cultural horizons. Diversity was apparent in the Choral Collage Concert’s song selections, which included gospel music, Native American music and Zimbabwean freedom songs.

The event began with the melancholy “Verbum Caro Factum Est,” a Catholic song that references the story of Jesus.  All of the choirs came together for this opening piece, filling the stage. Other members sang from the balcony, which was closed off from the audience.

“It was a great opportunity to sing with other groups that I’ve never gotten to sing with,” said Molly Linhorst, an international relations and political science major and member of the Women’s Choir. “People underestimate the degree of talent there is at SU. The Setnor School of Music is a fantastic school, so to be able to see your peers perform is pretty great.”

All throughout the night, different styles of music were represented, back-to-back. Windjammer was the second group to perform after the University Singers. They sang “Words” by Anders Edenroth, a staccato and upbeat English song. Windjammer was among the smaller groups, and they stood in a semicircle to the audience, snapping and chanting during the song.

Abby Brockamp, a sophomore music student who is part of the Concert Choir, said that “Words” resonated the most with her because of its message. “I just think that communicating is really important,” Brockamp said.

The Concert Choir performed “Yanaway Heyona” a traditional Native American chant. It was a call and response song, with two groups of women and two groups of men placed on the stage and balcony, singing toward each other. Their voices dissipated into Iroquois chants.

Finally, all of the choir groups came together for the last song of the night, “Shosholoza,” meaning “go forward” in Zimbabwean. The conductors played percussion while the students sang enthusiastically together.

“You can feel the energy of the entire choir singing together,” Linhorst said. “It’s great that you can bridge the distance of the cultures and appreciate the same music.”

Rob Righthand, a senior music industry major and member of University Singers described what students can expect out of Setnor events.

Said Righthand: “You’re going to leave with a few laughs and a few tears. It reminded me of human emotion. You can put your emotion into your singing, and it’s the best thing about it.”

Published on February 12, 2014 at 12:48 am

Contact Elaina: ekcrocke@syr.edu