The Foundation Street Choir and Aquinas College’s Choir Ensembles performing Mozart’s Requiem – Photo by Emmmanuel De Leon
Sounds of Us: Aquinas’ final music recital of the semester
By: Ashlyn Armock, Aquinas Reporter
Aquinas College’s Music Department held its final collaborative concert for the semester on Sunday, April 27. A total of seven groups performed, including various choral and instrumental ensembles.
The Aquinas Percussion Ensemble opened the concert with an arrangement of Sabre Dance by Aram Khachaturian. Under the direction of Dr Thomas Pollett, this ensemble consisted of seven people, including graduating seniors Quinn DeVries and Cal McNally.
The Saints Quartet, a barbershop group, brought joy to the crowd with their performance of Darkness on the Delta by Jerry Livingston. “It was really neat getting to see all of the different ensembles at the same concert,’ said Matthew Sloan, a sophomore who came to watch the performance. “And get to enjoy them back to back. I always love The Saints Quartet.” They concluded their part of the performance with Till I Hear You Sing from the musical Love Never Dies by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Saints Quartet, (pictured left to right) Paige Zuccaro, Steve Garvey, Friedrich Bloss, and Henry Vredevelt, performing Darkness on the Delta – Photo by Emmanuel De Leon
Next, the Aquinas College Band performed two pieces, the first being the Russian Dance by Oskar Bohme. This piece incorporated a solo from concerto competition winner and trumpet player Evan Newman, a junior at Aquinas. The Band’s second piece, Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger Arr. Fredrick Fennell, included six movements: I. Lisbon, II. Horkstow Grange, III. Rufford Park Poachers, IV. The Brisk Young Sailor, V. Lord Melbourne, VI. The Lost Lady Found.
After the College Band, the Jazz Ensemble played two songs, the first being Pumpkinette by Bob Florence. The ensemble had only had two rehearsals to practice that piece before the recital because of the time they spent dedicated to a festival performance on April 26. The second song the ensemble performed was called Kristyn and Kandice at the Mall by Dominic Spera. Spera was inspired to write this piece when watching his two granddaughters, Kristyn and Kandice, bounce around the stores and enjoy the fun atmosphere of the mall.
‘Sounds of Us’ program cover – Photo from Aquinas College Music Department
After a short intermission, the Fountain Street Choir and Aquinas Choral Ensembles reopened the concert with three movements from Mozart’s Requiem. The Requiem will be performed to its entirety on Saturday, May 3. The first and last movements, II. Dies Irae and IV. Rex Tremendae, were performed by the two choirs and the second movement, V. Recordare, was sung by four soloists from the Foundation Street Choir. To conclude this section of the recital, the two choirs performed The New Colossus by Saunder Choi. The words of this piece were taken from the sonnet The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus.
The next group to play was the Guitar Ensemble under the direction of Andrew Bergeron. Their first piece was Carnavalito del Duende by Cuchi Leguizamon Arr. Carmen Maret. Their second piece was Credit Roll by Jonathan Marshall. “The guitar ensemble was pretty good,” said Maxl Glanzer, a sophomore student, in a statement about how much he enjoyed the recital.
The concert concluded with a performance by the Chamber Strings under the direction of Joseph Oprea. The strings played three pieces: Water on Mars by Kevin Sluder, Eleanor Rigby by John Lennon and Paul McCartney Arr. Larry Moore, and Bossa Rojo by Bert Ligon. Written in the bossa nova style, Bossa Rojo, translates to red hot song.
The recital ended after two and a half hours of music from every ensemble within the Music Department at Aquinas College. The entire performance was live streamed and recorded, and it can be found in the link below:
The Saint 