Bel Canto hosts annual winter concert for all LSE choirs
Morgan Murphy, Queen of the Bel Canto Choir, stands in front of her peers and preforms one of their winter songs. For several years Bel Canto has hosted the Winter Concert. Not only have they performed, but they have also featured the other eight choirs.
December 17, 2018
For 15 years, Lincoln Southeast High School has held their traditional Winter Concert at Sheridan Lutheran Church. But what makes it such a tradition? The hosts of this concert – the select Renaissance-themed choir, Bel Canto.
Years ago, Bel Canto would host a dinner in conjunction with the Winter Concert, but after the finals schedule changed to before winter break, the choir department lost a lot of the preparation time they had before.
“The Winter Concert continued and the role of “host” remained with Bel Canto,” choir director Melissa Noonan said. “The Renaissance style of Bel Canto lends itself very well to hosting a concert with a celebratory spirit.”
At the beginning of the concert, the choir brings up their designated flag.This is done by the queen of the choir, Morgan Murphy, and the king, Dillon Spieker. The choir then situate themselves in two rows of chairs off to the side of the stage as the other seven choirs perform their holiday songs. Bel Canto closes the concert with their performance of four songs.
This special event requires a lot of hard work from teachers, Mr. Rickert and Mrs. Noonan, who carefully select music that provides a wide range of style, as well as being inclusive in the topics it surrounds in relation to religion and other aspects of the piece.
“The first conderation is ‘What can we learn from this’,” Noonan said. “Every piece I choose has specific aspects (musicianship, vocal technique, historical significance, etc.) that teach to the curriculum. The second consideration is variety. I look for music of different styles that will appeal to a variety of singers and audience members.”
This concert pulls students away from the stresses of holidays and finals and serenade them with the sound of sweet music. So if you’re feeling the stress of it all next semester be sure to check out the choir departments final concerts of the year, their Spring Concert, featuring the freshman choir and their new members of the department, and A Little Knight Music, where there will again be a feature from all the choirs with a more contemporart/novelty nature.
