On September 24, 2024, Lafayette Choir held its annual Choir Gala at Broadway Christian Church. The Choir Gala is Lafayette’s first choir concert of the year. It combines a beautiful choir performance and multiple incredible solos from voice majors from SCAPA (School for the Performing Arts). Despite only having a month to prepare, the concert went extremely well, and the satisfaction of a job well done was obvious in the faces of the performers.
The concert began with the Singers choir performing a Swedish piece called “Domaredansen,” or The Judges Dance, a song about a Swedish game where the “judge” stands in the middle of a circle and attempts to make the other players laugh. They then sang “Wanting Memories” by Ysaÿe Barnwell and “Yonder Come Day,” arranged by Adam and Matt Pond, an arrangement based on a spiritual, a genre of music similar to a hymn, from St. Simon’s Island, Georgia.
Later in the night, the Madrigals came marching in, singing a simple melody that grew more complicated as they made their way on stage. They then proceeded to sing songs like “Jaglied,” a German hunting song, and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” by Bob Dylan, a song about the importance of change, with a solo by Katie Bowden.
The Chorale ended the show with a wide range of songs, from the upbeat Brazilian folk song “Siriri,” about a young man named Siriri being called by girls and refusing to come for fear of a prank, to James Taylor’s “That Lonesome Road.” They ended with Moses Hogan’s spiritual “Great Day,” with a solo by Janeway Howard.
Between each choir’s performance, SCAPA voice majors performed beautiful solos from many works and artists. Some of the most recognizable songs were “Moon River,” sung by Shelton Whitehead, and Sienna Johnson sang “I Won’t Say” from Disney’s “Hercules.” Other pieces included, “When He Sees Me” from “Waitress,” sung by Emma Adkins, “I’ll Know” from “Guys and Dolls,” sung by Annelise Brown, “Home” from “Beetlejuice,” sung by Katie Bowen, and many more wonderful songs, sung by talented singers.
With so many unique pieces performed so well, the Choir Gala was an incredible event to attend. Mr. Marsh, director of the Chorale and Madrigal choirs, said, “I’m really excited about our choirs for this year. We’ve got a lot of great leaders.” He told the Times, “It’s our first chance out in front of an audience. We’ve had to move very very quickly to prepare music…anytime you do that in that short of an amount of time it can be very stressful…it can be a real challenge.” Despite the challenge, they showed up, giving a concert one audience member said was the best Choir Gala they’ve ever seen.
We look forward to hearing more from the Lafayette Choir.
