Keene State’s Concert Choir and Chamber Singers performed their final show of the semester at the Redfern Arts Center on Saturday, April 27.
Concert Choir and Chamber Singers Director Dr. Sandra Howard said the end of the semester performance included, “All new repertoire that we started in March, which has presented a nice change… it [has] also presented us with a shorter timeframe to prepare our pieces… the students have really stepped up to shape the sound.”
The pieces performed span multiple languages and Howard described the learning process as, “A lot of call and response where I will speak the phonetics and they will speak it back to me… I had to learn it ahead of them and become proficient so then I could teach it to them, but a lot of repetition helps there.”
Senior Simon Furzesaid it was important to diversify the repertoire both ensembles sang. “Some people may be happy with it, some people may find it interesting, some people may find themselves uncomfortable, but I think it’s important to represent more than just one language and it also leads to the diversity and ability to acquire.”
Furze stepped into the role of “student conductor” for his final performance, he explained, “I’m good friends with pretty much everyone in the group… I’ve had an easy time connecting with the people… but it’s been really cool stepping into that leadership position.”
Benjamin Martins can be contacted at
bmartins@kscequinox.com
