A gust of the “Prelude to Spring” with Folk and classical music from Choir

The curtains are slowly drawn aside to reveal the night’s combined choir: the Challenger Choir paired with all of Walnut High School’s own choir. With dimmed lights and a full stage, they begin the opening to “Like the Beat of a Drum” by Jay Althouse.

The Choir concert featured Suzanne Middle School’s choir, five songs in a row from Chamber Choir and the first view at Rhapsody in Blue’s official competition lineup. The concert was held on Feb. 20th in WHS’ Performing Arts Center, and partnered some performances with select members from the instrumental department.

Soon after the show’s introduction, the Challenger Choir took hold of the show with their performance of another three songs: “Jubilate Deo” by Jay Althouse, “Always Sing Your Song” by Victor C. Johnson and French Folk song “J’ai vu le loup.” The last of these especially stood out, sung more confidently with well-practiced lyrics and higher volume. “Prelude to Spring” is the only annual show to include the Challenger Choir, and allows its students the unique opportunity to preview their opportunities for performing arts in high school.

“It was a joint concert between Walnut and Suzanne, and it was a lot of fun. Suzanne has a 44 person ensemble, which is kind of crazy,” Chamber Choir Tenor freshman Daniel James “DJ” Alturas said. “Introducing them to our ensembles here at Walnut High School will really help the eighth graders figure out, ‘Where do I want to go?’”

As intermission came to an end, four members from Orchestra walked onto the stage as members of Chamber Choir took their places. As the music started to sound from two violins, a viola and cello, the light focused onto the Chamber Singers as they began their performance of “Five Hebrew Love Songs” by Eric Whitacre. The set lasted just over 10 minutes, and allowed Chamber to finally show off songs they’ve been practicing since the beginning of the year. The uniquely increased length of many of the night’s events made for a distinct experience, and functioned in a new way to capture the audience’s attention.

Prior to the performance, “I’m personally excited for the show, especially considering I am a part of Chamber Singers, because a lot of those pieces we’ve been working on, we have been solely working on all year. I’m just very excited to finally debut a lot of these pieces that we spend so much time working on,” Chamber Choir Tenor section leader sophomore Tobias Silva-Jameson said.

For the final performance of the night, Rhapsody in Blue stepped onto the stage for the official debut of their competition set. With four-back-to back songs and almost no time to rest between them, the 15 minute reveal demonstrated the group’s ability to quickly switch between pieces while staying in tune even as they danced. This routine will later be used to compete against other schools, and Rhapsody members were able to finally show off months of work in dancing as well as singing. The event was made complete by their signature matching outfits: blue skirts and white shirts, with the occasional contrasting reds and blues for lead roles.

“I’ve been in choir for two years, and even though [it’s been] a very emotional rollercoaster for me, I loved every single moment of it. I’m glad to have an entire community of friends that I [can] call family here at [Walnut]’,” Mustang Singers Tenor senior William Jin said.