Wilshire Auditorium hosted the annual Fall Choral Concert with superb

performances from both Concert Choir and Chamber singers on Friday, Oct. 21.

Director John Tebay described the folk music as a “wonderful journey that tells a story.”

The opening two pieces contained songs out of the bible that were written for church. The choir performed these songs in German.

Tebay described the songs as an “apocalyptic world heading to the end of days” – a perfect choice seeing as Halloween is fast approaching.

The song divided the choir in two, which created an echoing effect.

The third piece titled “Visions of St. John” was soothing compared to the previous pieces. However, the pianist Lena Kim, who was fantastic throughout the night, raised some hairs with her brilliant skills near the end of the piece, conveying strong emotions.

Up next was a perfect example of poetry converted to music. Tebay explained that the fourth piece, “Only in Sleep” by Sara Teasdale was about a person dreaming about playing with her friends.

The Concert Choir and Chamber Singers came together as one in an almost perfect unified voice that was candy to the ears. Around 42 students collaborated on this piece, which was nothing less than excellent.

The fifth and most unique piece “Kruhay” was about a Philippine song based on folktale. This piece was a delight to the ears, as it sounded mystical and enchanting.

The singers incorporated synchronized hand movements and stomping that were executed flawlessly. The very first stomp caught the audience off guard as a couple of the audience members could be seen almost jumping out of their seats.

Both Choir and Chamber performed together as a unit, which showed when the audience loudly applauded for almost a minute.

Into the final half of songs, “Angel Bond” was something straight from the heavens. The singers incorporated perfect high and low tones that were graceful to the ears.

Christmas came early when director Nicola Bertoni took over for Tebay, as the singers performed “And the glory of the Lord”, which is a Christmas piece. Along with Bertoni came the change of Choir and Chamber. The group grew to around 70 or so singers.

However, Kim stole the show with her piano work. She had an amazing solo performance that enchanted the crowd.

The show ended on a high note with “My soul’s been anchored in the lord” which was beautifully executed, which you could tell by the happy faces on all the singers.

Kylan Armenta, 19-year old tenor vocalist, was proud of his peers. “It’s amazing to perform with so many talented people.”.

“To make music together is once in a lifetime experience,” Armenta continued.

Arlyne Napoli attended her first choir concert in support her daughter Amber Napoli.

“She did a wonderful job. She had a solo too that was really nice.” Napoli said.

Students faced a long preparation process prior to the event.

“We’ve been rehearsing since the second week of school,” Bertoni said. “We also have an intensive retreat, which is really fun, but we do about two weeks worth of rehearsal in one weekend at the retreat.”

Bertoni explained to the crowd that she was extremely proud of the students who faced many difficulties, but refused to give up.

The next choral concert will be held at the Wilshire Auditorium on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, please visit music.fullcoll.edu