The Fullerton College Men’s Chorale presented a carefully curated selection of songs from the pop, jazz, Spanish and movie soundtrack genres at the Musicians at Work concert on the night of April 17. They started the show with “What Is This Feeling” from “Wicked” and transitioned into classics like “The Little Shop of Horrors,” which set the tone for the rest of the night.
This choir didn’t sing the by-the-book songs you would expect a choir to do. The students had also composed their own original songs. Classic ballads performed by Gavin Mitchell had a folk pop feeling which made the show take off and is where the crowd started clapping in unison. “No One Else” by Dave Malloy was performed by Carla Guido.
Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” was one of the standout songs of the whole show. There were so many talented solo performers like Western Salazar, singing “Lady in the Sea” while playing guitar.
Choral director Zachary Lindquist felt this concert was unique because it was all popular music. “It’s all musical theatre, pop, jazz, things that as classical choral artists we don’t really always do, which is fun because it’s a different style of singing,” Lindquist said. “The other really unique thing about this concert is the majority of the performers are solos and small groups. There are four choirs singing five songs total but there are 17 songs in the concert. We even have a student written song.”
Another unique song that was performed was “Funeral” by Phoebe Bridgers, sung by Erick Juarez and Allyson Wiersma. One could feel the alternative emotion it brought to the performance.
Gina Hernandez paid homage to Chet Baker in her solo performance of “My Funny Valentine,” with Octavio Mendez on the piano. The second to last song was “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish, which showcased the range of different genres that they tapped into. The concert choir closed out the show with “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”
“We get to show off how each of the students are musically, with the student composed pieces as well as jazz blended with musical theatre,” said Connor Smorick.
