Belvidere High School choir recently held its first concert in the PAC since their last concert Dec. 2019. 

The choir director, Mark Miller, said he had looked forward to the Oct. 9 concert.

“Our last concert was on Dec. 5 2019, and our March 2020 concert had to be canceled just a few days beforehand because of the initial coronavirus outbreak,” he stated. All choir members were excited for this concert as well.

Olivia Stary, a sophomore in Mixed Chorus, talked about her choir class and how she was feeling before the concert. “I have a lot of friends in my class and it’s fun learning different songs and languages, but this concert is quite nerve wracking,” she said.  

The concert held as many as six different choirs, Show, Mixed, Choralier’s, Freshman, Bass, and A cappella, before the end where all choirs joined together to sing How Far I’ll Go by Auli’i Cravalho. Each choir showed off the time and effort put into each routine, whether from melodies, like in Try Everything sung by the Choraliers, or in Rise, where the Show Choir not only sang, but danced. 

In between the choirs switching, Miller made a comment to the crowd, saying, “How excited we are to be back- our current juniors, the last time they were on stage they were freshman.” Then also mentioned the seniors being sophomores at their last performance. 

There were many choreography included performances in the different choirs that worked with the songs quite smoothly. The choreographers who created the routines were students within the choir, Sophia Yates, Ellie Savage, Leia Stapler, Ella Scimeca, and Clara Sumano. 

Another student mention was Miller’s accompanist, Nadia Jensen, a senior here at BHS. Jensen assisted in playing the piano for many of the performances in the concert. 

Other songs that were performed would be It’s All Right from the Show Choir, I Dare You from the Choralier’s, You Will Be Found from the Freshman Chorus, and Waves from the Mixed Choir. 

A capella performed a song called Alma Llanera, giving the lyrics in spanish and then translating it, by two members in the choir, before it was sang. Makkala Thiede, sophomore in A Capella, said, “It was pretty good! We did really well.” while talking about their performance. 

“From Freshman to Senior, from younger being able to watch older. I am definitely proud of all of them,” Miller said after the concert. He felt proud of every performance and every choir but also liked the way it all felt like a full circle concert.

Even some spectators had some nice things to say about the concert. GiGi DeGennaro, a freshman at BHS, said, “I thought all the music performed was done very well. It was enjoyable to watch and see.” 

DeGennaro also made a mention to how well the soloists did. Those soloist’s being, Tikaya Jones, Lily Horn, Yakima Santana, Baue DeGennaro, and Ella Yates. 

Keep an eye out for the next choir concert in December, as it will be entirely worth watching.