Every year, the Miramonte music program performs a free concert around fall time in the theatre. This year, the concert was on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. and ran for about an hour. Featured in the concert were the OIS Choir and their Vocal Music teacher, Christina Holling, the Musical Theater Workshop, the Chamber Singers, and the Jazz Band, all directed by Miramonte’s Vocal and Instrumental Music teacher Carl Oser. Many of the songs performed are arranged and adapted into new versions by adding harmonies or using new instruments while still preserving the main melody. Here is a brief overview of each department and the songs they performed:

Chamber Singers:

Chamber Singers is an advanced course that provides opportunities for trained vocalists to learn various styles of singing and develop their vocals. Freshman Morgan Thompson is a part of the small group of Chamber Singers. 

“There are eight of us and we are very powerful,” Thompson said. 

Though the Chamber Singers are a small group, they make up for it with powerful and developed voices. Many times they sing without any music accompaniment, so they have to be able to sing both controlled and loud.

The following are the songs that the Chamber Singers performed:

• “O Cessate Di Piagarmi” – an aria from the opera “II Pompeo” with junior Chamber Singer Emalia Kim on the piano, composed by Alessandro Scarlatti and reinterpreted by Nora Fischer and Marnix Dorrestein 
• “May I Suggest” – composed by Susan Werner and covered by Red Molly 
• “Asleep at Last” – performed by Ruth Moody 

The OIS Choir:

Similar to Miramonte’s Chamber Singers, the OIS Choir practices during one of their elective periods and performs songs live. Rocklyn Reasoner, the Choir President, has been taking the course all three years of her middle school career, and plans on continuing her musical career at Miramonte, whether that be with the Chamber Singers or the Musical Theater Workshop. 

“We’re probably most excited to sing ‘Desert Song’ because we practiced hard for it and we hope it is the highlight of everyone’s night,” Reasoner said. 

The following are the songs that the OIS Choir performed:

• “J’etends Le Moulin” – a French Canadian Folk Song, arranged by Emily Crocker 
• “Go the Distance / Defying Gravity” – a mashup of two songs from “Hercules” and “Wicked,”  composed by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, and arranged by Roger Emerson 
• “Believer” – written by Imagine Dragons and arranged by Mark Brymer 

Musical Theater Workshop:

The Musical Theater Workshop program meets during school hours and is for students who like expressing themselves through acting, singing, and dancing. 

“I love the community of people that being a part of musical theater brings me,” senior Emme Gerhard said. “Everyone is uniquely talented and comes from a different musical background, making this class such a great lea

rning experience.”

The following song was the one performed by the Musical Theater Workshop:

• “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – from the musical “Carousel”, written by Oscar Hammerstein II

Jazz Band:

The final music department to perform was the Jazz Band. The Jazz Band meets before school during the 0 period at 7:25 a.m. to practice their various traditional jazz instruments, such as trumpets, clarinets, and trombones, and non-traditional jazz instruments, such as electric guitars, saxophones, and cellos.  This class is for intermediate and advanced high school instrumentalists to collaborate with others and perform for the community. 

The following are songs that the Jazz Band performed: 

• “Take the ‘A’ Train” – written by Billy Strayhorn and arranged by Bob Lowden 

• Soloist: Senior Ethan Kong on the alto saxophone

• “Chameleon” – composed by Herbie Hancock and arranged by Michael Sweeney

• Soloist: Senior Charlie Richtenburg on the alto saxophone

• “Pineapple” – written by Mike “Maz” Maher and Michael League 

• Soloists: Ethan Kong and Hugo Shen 

For the grand finale, all of the ensembles came together to perform “Desert Song,” which was arranged by Erin Bentlage and was adapted for the Jazz Band by senior Claire Casado. 

 “We had many moving pieces,” Oser said. “We had OIS in the house, the Jazz Band, and all of the vocalists, but I think it went pretty great!” 

The concert wrapped up around 8 p.m. with families flooding out and congratulating their performers with hugs, flowers, and lots of love. The performers and teachers put an abundant amount of effort into making this performance happen, and their hard work finally paid off. With this event down, the musicians are looking forward to learning new songs to perform for their upcoming shows.