By: Yessi Galvan –
Performance is undeniably outstanding at Southeast, and LSE continues to prove it’s talent with the performance on Thursday, November 2. One of our swing choirs, Countesses and Noblemen (C&N) had the opportunity to share the stage with Kristin Chenoweth.
For those who still don’t know who Kristin Chenoweth is, Rickert explained her well: “Kristin Chenoweth is the LeBron James of Broadway music. If you think of how famous he is within the basketball world, that’s what Chenoweth is within the broadway world.”
C&N teacher, Samuel Rickert, says “Chenoweth has been asked for five years to come and perform at the Lied Center. She agreed to perform if a local ensembles and choirs, specifically high school groups, could perform on stage with her for two songs.“
“Kristin Chenoweth is someone we’ve always looked up to,” said Anna Wade and Abby Peterson, both seniors and soloist at the Chenoweth concert.
Although Chenoweth may be tiny, her words sure are mighty and had a major impact on the students. “I was shaking really bad,” said Peterson. “But she made us feel more comfortable by describing it as 21 people all singing together instead of one person singing and being backed up by 20. She’d been under all sorts of pressure, performing her entire life, so it was great having her there to help us through it,” said Peterson.
Rickert was so proud of his students that night that it made him more emotional than he expected. “ I cried the whole time! Yes, I truly did. Actual tears. It was seeing them up on stage, in that atmosphere, singing in front of thousands of thousands of people,with a smile on their face and enjoying themselves. They looked like they were having the time of their life, they didn’t look nervous or uncomfortable they just looked like they were having fun. Seeing them perform always makes me really happy.”
C&N may only be a high school choir group, but they are giving hope to the students around them that are scared to follow their dreams and are worried to step out of their comfort zone.
“Go out and test your boundaries! The worst thing that can happen is that you don’t like it, in which case you can always say you’ve tried it. There’s no ‘what could have been’ factor if you’ve done it all!” said Petersen.
Rickert has a saying that he feeds his students: “Don’t be afraid to try. I think often times as humans we’re afraid to fail and failure is only a motivator to get better. However, you’re going to fail if you don’t try. So go try and give it your best shot. I always say what’s the worst that can happen. You’re not going to completely fail.”