On Oct. 30, 2024, choirs from the feeder schools of Oak Grove, Roundout and Highland joined the high school choirs for a day of practice, followed by a performance in the Main Gym at 7:30 PM.
The festival is a long-standing tradition, being a staple for at least the past twenty years, only taking a break for COVID-19. This year, the choirs worked under a renowned guest conductor, retired Stevenson High School choir director Mrs. Alice Neuson.
Kicking off the concert, the combined middle school choirs started with Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” and followed it up with “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman. These two songs featured Senior Nina Landvick on the drumset, and “This is Me” featured four middle school soloists.
¨This concert validates everything that I’ve been saying to these kids sometimes [for] years,” said Oak Grove Choir director Mr. Logan Farris. “I love this festival because I can say things to my junior high students [and] tell them what an impact it made on me… but it’s not really authentic until they come here and see what I’ve been talking about.”
Following the middle schoolers, Bel Canto, the all-female junior ensemble, came onto the floor to perform. They started with “Ballad of the Witches Road” from Marvel’s Agatha All Along composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. It was a completely acapella song.
After Bel Canto performed, the rest of the LHS choirs came down and joined them, performing two songs. They started their set with “Omina Sol” by Z. Randall Stroope and finished with “I Put a Spell on You” from the movie Hocus Pocus.
“I enjoy [choir] a lot because, as someone who’s had a very musical background and had a very musical family, I see it as a way to kind of have fun, express myself and have a lot of freedom with it,” Senior Nathan Koleterman said. Kolterman, who has been singing for the past decade, says that the choirs still have room to improve. “We have a couple [of] problems with like paying attention when we really need to get things done. I’d say that if we were a little bit more focused and less distracted by technology and such, we would be able to do more songs.”
Finishing the night off, the middle schoolers joined the high school choirs for a huge, four-school finale. They sang two songs together: “Stand Together” and “Crowded Table”, which featured Sophomore Danielle Hwang on the violin.
“I love all the connections I’ve made, all the friends along the way, and Dr. Brown is really fun,” said Senior Delaney Rybicki. Rybicki is president of the choir board and has been singing since she was four years old. “[The highlight for me was] getting to see all the little kids that are going to be in my place in the future.”
The performing arts season at Libertyville continues after this concert. Bands from the feeder schools will join the high school band program on November 20th, and orchestra students from the feeder schools will join the high school orchestra on December 5th. The choirs will perform again in their holiday music festival on December 10th and 11th in the Butler Lake Auditorium.
