The Palo Alto High School choir and the orchestra will be playing a joint concert for the first time in years this Sunday night at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

This concert, which is an elaboration on the choir’s annual fall show, will feature a collaborative effort between the two groups on certain classic choir songs.

“The Concert Choir will be singing sections from Hadyn’s Mass, as well as an African spiritual song” said senior Thomas Zhao, who is a member of the choir. “Madrigals will be singing an English piece, as well as a French piece and an Italian piece.”

The orchestra will be working together with the choir on Hadyn’s Mass, according to junior violinist Curtis Wu.

“It’s primarily a choir concert,” he said.

Nevertheless, both groups look forward to playing together once again.

“This will be the first combined concert in a long, long time,” Zhao said.

This joint effort was made possible by a schedule rotation, moving orchestra from fourth period to third, at the same time as choir, giving them the opportunity to practice together during the school day.

“This is the first time choir and orchestra have been at the same time,” Wu said. “The directors of both programs thought it would be a good idea to collaborate, since lots of choir music is meant to be performed with an orchestra.”