From the lively verses of “Matona Mia Cara” to the soothing lull of “Hush, Somebody’s Calling My Name,” voices of student vocalists on Sunday filled Palo Alto High School’s Performing Arts Center for a season preview concert.
Choir leaders said the “Expecto Cantorum” preview fired up their singers in preparation for their annual district-wide concert with middle school singers Wednesday at Gunn High School and an upcoming collaboration with Schola Cantorum, a community chorus in Silicon Valley, on Oct. 27.
According to Paly choir teacher Michael Najar, the decision to collaborate with Schola Cantorum reflects a long connection.
“The decision behind this collaboration is they’re one of the oldest community choirs in the Bay Area, and the son of the old director of Schola Cantorum was at Paly,” Najar said. “We have deep roots with this group and when we combine, we’ll be about 180 singers together.”
Senior choir member Aiden Chen said that the additional voices will strengthen the choir when performing a more challenging repertoire.
“We are collaborating with their singers to perform the ‘Carmina Burana,’ or the overall opera, which includes ‘O Fortuna,’ a very famous piece,” Chen said. “It’ll feel like a more powerful scale sitting in the audience with so much sound coming.”
Senior Eesha Samant, choir president, said the collaboration will help with uniting the voices of the choir.
“We’re singing a lot of different pieces this year, and I can’t wait to sing with the Schola Cantorum, which has a lot of more mature voices, so it’ll help us a lot with harmonizing or unifying our sound,” Samant said.
According to Chen, the preparation for the performances has encountered a few challenges, but none they couldn’t overcome.
“Our previous year’s seniors have left, which has taken somewhat of a hit on our choir,” Chen said. “But I think that since this year, our choir is so much bigger than it was in previous years, we can work through it and provide an even greater auditory experience for our audience.”
Paly Choir is made up of many individual ensembles, including the Concert Choir, Madrigal Singers, Spectrum Singers, Premier Choir, Viking Men’s Chorus, and more. Najar said that coordinating all the students and pieces together takes effort.
“There’s so much music, it’s almost like cooking a seven-dish meal and having to serve it all at the same time,” Najar said. “You’ve got one appetizer going here, you’ve got the main dish going here, you’ve got a side dish going here, and oh no, I forgot to make drinks and desserts — every ensemble has a different part of this, and you have to work them all at the same time.”
The collective Paly Choir is preparing to bring the best experience for their audience, starting Wednesday night at Gunn’s Spangenberg Theater.
“The middle school concert is one of our biggest concerts,” Najar said. “All PAUSD [Palo Alto Unified School District] choirs will be singing. More than anything else, it’s to show the power of music. That’s the biggest takeaway.”
