Gallery • 8 Photos

Aarna Mishra

Starting the night off strong, freshmen from the Chorale perform many songs such as “Crusin’ for a Brusin’” from “Teen Beach Movie,” as pictured. Conducted by Dr. Brown, these students sing joyously at their first-ever cabaret concert.

On Wednesday, February 19, the various Libertyville High School choir ensembles performed a fun and interesting variety of popular songs in their annual cabaret concert. The concert, directed by Dr. Brown and accompanied by Mrs. Claire Dixon, brought the audience to thunderous applause by performing a collection of exciting and enjoyable tunes.

The concert featured popular songs from recent years and classics from the 1990s and before. The performance included the usual choir ensembles, groups that get together outside of school, and uniquely, small group performances by juniors and seniors that put the crowd on their feet.

The cabaret concert is one of a few shows the choir puts on annually as part of a decades-long tradition. “Before I started working here in 2001, there was always a tradition where the choirs would sing and then there would be soloists, duets, and special presentations from members of choir,” Dr. Brown said. “This is the only concert of the year where the students in each choir class help choose the music we sing.” The students picked songs that they enjoyed singing and, more importantly, songs that the audience loved.

This year’s special presentations were especially crowd-pleasing. The selection was quite diverse, including George Gershwin’s “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” sang by juniors Zoe Mueller and Luc Domingo-Snyder, “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” from Hairspray, sung by juniors Lizzie Franz, Maddie Pierce and Alice Krietch, and even “What is This Feeling” from Wicked, sang by juniors Eva Thomas and Katie Baker.

Students can pick songs and people to sing with for their special presentations and go through an audition process to be picked to sing at the concert. “I personally loved getting to sing my duet with Katie Baker. I know that I’ve been wanting to sing that song with someone for forever, and as soon as I met Katie, I was like, Oh my gosh, we have to do this,” Thomas said.

The freshman Chorale began the concert with the song “Cruisin for a Bruisin” from Teen Beach Movie, which was a fun tune to start off the concert. They went on to perform “Go the Distance” from Disney’s “Hercules” and rounded out their portion of the concert with “Africa” by TOTO, a definite crowd-pleaser.

Following the freshman group, the Concert Chorale, the sophomore ensemble, took the stage. The group sang “One Short Day” from Wicked and “Found/Tonight” by Ben Platt and Lin Manuel-Miranda before ending with “Come Alive” from The Greatest Showman. This song featured a dance routine, a new addition to the decades long tradition of this annual concert.

Along with the regular choir ensemble performances, many of the extracurricular choir groups were also featured. The Cleftomaniacs, an extracurricular choir made up of all boys, the Acabellas, made up of all girls, and the Master Singers, a co-ed group, all performed in the concert.

The Bel Canto ensemble, which is made up of junior girls, took the stage to perform a variety of peppy tunes. They began by singing the GLEE version of “Rumor Has It” by Adele, featuring a solo from junior Presley Schoenfeld. The group went on to perform “Dear Theodosia” from the musical Hamilton, before finishing off with another tune from GLEE: “Bellas Finals,” featuring solos from juniors Marley Herchenbach, Katie Baker and Vik Tijunelis.

“I liked my own performance. I was definitely nervous. It’s always anxiety inducing, and it’s always nervous just being on stage and performing for an audience,” Herchenbach said.

Following Bel Canto, the Concert Choir, which is made up of seniors and junior boys, took the stage next to bring the audience more selections of popular songs and musical tunes. They began by singing another Pitch Perfect number: “Das Sound Machine Finale.” The song featured solos from seniors Wren Frey, Delaney Rybicki and Jake Potter. They also performed two more tunes, “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield, and “Another Day in the Sun” from the movie “La La Land.”

The concert ended with all choir ensembles taking the stage to perform a rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, featuring freshman Vince Lombardo on drumset, junior Thomas Texiera on bass and senior Annie Brody on guitar.

“I love to sing, and it was amazing to present our passion to a large audience. We have been practicing that song for a while, and it was so fun to finally show everyone what we had been working on,” junior Ishika Banerjee said.

To find more on LHS vocal ensembles, the choir has a unique Instagram page. Ran by Dr. Brown, the account posts content regularly and shares content from other artists on their story. “It’s helped me to connect with people in other places I would never know. Other teachers, other choir programs in other states and other countries who have Instagram accounts who we follow,” Dr. Brown said.

The choir will be touring Sicily over spring break and will return to the Butler Auditorium for their spring choir concert on May 13.