Choirs to sing pre-UIL concert April 9

Katelyn Spivey

Choirs will perform pieces of music with Russian, English, German and Latin lyrics.

The choirs will host their pre-UIL concert at 7:00 P.M. Monday, April 9 in the auditorium.

The show will feature several performances from both the varsity and non-varsity choirs. Entrance is free, and audiences will be asked to hold their applause until the very end of the concert, to help the choirs prepare for contest Tuesday and Wednesday, April 17 and 18.

“The unique thing about contest is there’s no applause between our three pieces,” assistant choir director Kelli Harter said. “We like to give the choirs the opportunity to perform in that setting. We ask the audience members to participate in that and help replicate what it’s going to feel like on the day of contest.”

Harter said another purpose of the pre-UIL concert is to give the separate choirs a chance to hear each other perform.

“We love our choirs to hear each other and the hard work that they’ve done,” Harter said. “They love to sit and listen to each other and get that support of the choir family going for one another.”

Harter said the family aspect of the concert extends beyond the camaraderie between choirs.

“We want our families and friends to be able to hear what we’ve been working on before we take it to contest,” Harter said. “This gives us an opportunity to perform for our community and for our friends and for our family.”

Harter said UIL is the pinnacle of the choirs’ classical choral music for the year.

“Right after this concert we go to contest, we come back, and we do a variety show, which is not choral in nature, classically speaking,” Harter said. “This is the last opportunity to hear some good classic choral repertoire, and it’s beautiful. There’s some stunning, beautiful, heart-wrenching musical moments.”