The choir concert began at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2021, in a full auditorium. The three conductors and pianists of the concert–Michael Hickey, Dan Ermel and Jonathan Untch–led the five choirs in 13 songs throughout the night.

The Concert Choir kicked off the night with “At the River” and “Dies Irae,” the latter sending a chill right through the audience as the Latin song, meaning “the day of wrath,” echoed throughout the auditorium. Sophomore Kylie Christenson enjoyed performing the piece.

“It has a scary tone to it, but we thought it would be really fun to perform, and it was,” Christenson said.

The all-girls Advanced Treble Choir followed suit with three songs. To begin, Fine Arts Department Chair, Michael Hickey, led the choir with a conga through an African folk song. This performance was not the only one appreciative of different cultures throughout the night.

The Madrigal Choir performed a single song, “O Vos Omnes,” a tune originating from Roman Catholic liturgies. The auditorium listened in complete silence as the advanced singers echoed throughout the room.

Finally, the Jazz Choir, composed of many seniors and the most advanced singers in ACHS, performed three songs that left the audience astonished. Their final piece, “Come Fly With Me,” was the favorite of the choir. Senior Hadde Luebke talked about the experience that came with learning the song.

“Ever since we picked the song, we always had so much fun singing it,” Luebke said. “It was definitely a group favorite, and having such a lively song made the experience ten times more fun.”

Senior Isaac Piccard agreed with Luebke as he embraced being back on stage.

“It felt great to get back into singing,” Piccard said. “It’s been a while since I have sung in the auditorium. I was glad to see we even had a good audience.”

“Come Fly With Me” featured a jazz combo with junior Justin Pedersen on drums, Jonathan Untch on the keyboard and Michael Riggs on bass.

The concert ended with a final performance, “Hlohonolofatsa,” involving all five choirs regrouping on stage. The song set the feeling for the entire night by its resounding echo throughout the auditorium as their voices wound together to create a beautiful piece of cultural appreciation featuring the sounds of South Africa. It featured solos by seniors Jasmine Ametovski and Morgan Flood-Cooper.

The night was a complete success and particularly emotional for seniors in the choirs. Luebke mentioned the return after a year-long break adding to the emotion.

“Performing again made me so happy, and to finally be able to do that brought me so much joy,” Luebke said. “To be singing again with all of my favorite people has been a blast, especially since it’s my last year singing with them.”

The performance was the first of many to come from this choir class at ACHS. The kickoff for the year will certainly be difficult to beat, but the choir classes are already working hard to top it on Dec. 11, 2021, for the District Holiday Art & Music Festival at the CHSD field house.