Singing Praises

Phenomenal Choir concert last night by the BYU Choirs! I always enjoy listening to great music from such amazing talent. BYU has four top Choirs: Men's Chorus, Women's Chorus, BYU Singers, and Concert Choir. First on the program was actually a guest choir- the choirs from Timpanogos High School.

The Timpanogos High School Choirs were a great introduction to the concert, but I must say, when the Men's Chorus came on stage they just blew them away. They began with an arrangement by Mack Wilberg of a song called "Saints Bound for Heaven," then went on to sing a piece by Stephen Chatman entitled "Reconciliation." This was an incredible piece with beautiful lyrics from Walt Whitman's poem, "Drum Taps," that is written about war. To finish their part of the program, the Men's Chorus sang a wonderful arrangement of "Master the Tempest Is Raging."

Up next were the BYU Singers! Holy cow! They are the smallest of the top four choirs, but they just put so much emotion into what they are singing. They had an incredible performance yesterday. They started their performance with a song called "Stars Over Snow," a very lush and beautiful opener. Following this was a lovely piece with a Flute soloist and piano accompaniment. And to finish, their final piece was "Wade in the Water," by Alan Koepke. The BYU Singers were my favorite performance last night because of how much emotion they portrayed to the audience. Stunning.

The last two choirs, Concert Choir and Women's Chorus, did an outstanding job as well. The Concert Choir's second piece was a very interesting one. It was based on a Gregorian Chant, so they first sang the Chant as it was written, and then sang the arrangement. So cool! Gregorian Chants can be kind of dull to us because they are mostly in all unison and are taken very slow. But that is just how church music was back then. This arrangement by Maurice Duruflé was gorgeous and took something very simple into something really interesting. The Women's Chorus was amazing, as always. They sang two very moving slow, lyrical pieces, and ended their performance with a fun arrangement to Sarah Bareilles' "Brave." This was one of my favorites of the night.

As a conclusion to the concert, all five choirs (620 voices) joined in singing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." This was a powerful closer and a great finish to a wonderful evening of performances. I can't wait to go to more choir concerts coming up in March!