Free Concert at Simsbury High

A free and open-to-the-public fall choral concert will be presented by the Simsbury High Music Department on Wednesday, October 7, 2015. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. in the SHS auditorium and will last about an hour and 15 minutes.

The “First in Fall” concert, the inaugural musical presentation of the 2015-16 school year, will showcase an delightful mix of music and performances by all the SHS choirs under the direction of Colleen Thompson.

Each year, Mrs. Thompson uses the first concert as the foundation for the rest of the school year. It’s all about “good singing,” with each group showcasing styles of music that are important for choirs to learn to do well: madrigal, art song and spiritual. Each choir will perform one of each for a total of three, with the a cappella groups providing single song contemporary elements to the concert.

The all-female Treble Choir will open the program with a German piece, then the lovely and poetic Stars I Shall Find, and finish their set with I Wanna Be Ready, a lively spiritual. Featured in this song will be freshmen soloists Robyn Ampadu, Catherine Cantelmo, Emily Steele, and Emmalee Richards.

Men’s Choir, a group that includes freshmen through seniors, will perform next, and sing two folk songs – Cripple Creek and This Old Hammer – in their set. They will also sing Ubi Caritas, which has a tenth- century Gregorian melody and therefore lends itself perfectly to all-male choirs. Kyle St. Sauveur ’18 will sing the solo in This Old Hammer.

Women’s Chorale, which also includes freshmen through seniors, will be performing Take Me to the Water, arranged by famed Chicago music professor and composer Dr. Rollo Dilworth. Dr. Dilworth’s arrangements are performed by high school, college, community and church choirs nationwide, and this particular spiritual arrangement is one of his most exceptional. Chorale will also be performing a “riddle song,” the Nova Scotian folksong I’ll Give My Love An Apple. Soloists will be sophomores Sophie Capobianco, Maria Diaz-Islas, Laure Guibert, Caroline Pane and Ava Rooney.

Simsbury Singers, the high school’s premiere ensemble, will be concentrating on Renaissance and madrigal works this year. The mixed choir, predominantly made up of seniors who have been in the music program for their entire school career, and many of whom have been chosen for state, regional and/or national honor choirs, will be presenting the challenging Lasciate Mi Morire by Monteverdi. The “Maestro Della Musica” for the Italian court in the 16th century, Monteverdi’s compositions ranged from unaccompanied art songs to full-fledged opera, and are often performed by tight-harmony, multi-voiced choirs such as Simsbury Singers.

SHS’s largest musical ensemble, Mixed Chorale, will close the show. This group, made up of mostly upperclassmen, will perform an audience favorite, the spiritual Down By the Riverside; they also will give the audience a chance to hear a talented performer who is usually introducing the concerts rather than participating. Performing Come to the Music, Mixed Chorale will be joined by percussionists Avery Gotshall and Nathaniel Chaves, and special guest Simsbury Director of Performing Arts Angela Griffin. While, as noted, Ms. Griffin is normally opening the concert with introductions, for this song she will accompany the student singers on flute.

The concert will also feature Simsbury three student-run a cappella groups. Andiamo will perform the Beyonce song Love on Top, arranged for the mixed group by co-leader Kate Campolieta ’16. Soloists will be Rachel Aponte ‘16, Ana Ashchepkova ‘16, and Grace Sullivan ‘18. The all-female group No Fella A Cappella will perform Walk the Moon’s Shut Up and Dance, arranged by co-leader Kristin Weiss ’16. Soloists are Olivia Coe ‘16, Julia Dowd ‘16, co-leader Emma Kyzivat ‘17, Haley Latorre ’18, Gabby Ostrov ‘17 and Christine Schiller ‘17. The all-male Unaccompanied Minors will perform Don’t Stop the Music, with soloists co-leader Cam Delo ’17, Luke Gilmore ’18, Brian Hanshaw ’17 and co-leader William Shaw ’17.

Choirs in Order of Appearance:

Treble Choir: Robyn Ampadu, Tara Andrews, Madeline Becene, Natalie Bielat, Margaret Budlong, Catherine Cantelmo, Ava Couchon, Isabelle Dowd, Madeline Fabian, Shaina Gleason, Abigail Hammel, Rebecca Hartnett, Devin Hoffman, Rebecca Jano, Samantha Kenney, Izabella Kuczorski, Kyra Laiuppa, Elena Marchetti, Katie May, Alyssa Miranda, Katie O’Connell, Emma Ouelette, Sarah Poole, Carina Putnam, Emmalee Richards, Annalise Shingleton, Deja Soler, Rebecca Spinelli, Miana Spinnato, Emily Steele, Krista Steinmetz, Faith Tanski, Hannah Thode, Grace Woznicki, Emma Zematis

Men’s Choir: Benjamin Armstrong, Nathanael Bargmann, Nicholas Beckius, Evan Bologa, William Bonnell, Jarin Daniels, Matthais DeAngelo, Cedar Fillmore, Benjamin Grossman, Jeffrey Lewtan, Brennan McDermott, Colby Morkan, Nicholas Sanborn, Kyle St. Sauveur, Tyler Thomas, Kevin Van Voorhis, Henry Vanderbeck, Ian Wilson, Ethan Windisch, Drew Zenick

No Fella A Cappella: Kate Angus, Hannah Cary, Olivia Coe, Maia Czaikowski, Zoe Eisenhaure, Naomi Garcia, Madeleine Gastonguay (co-leader), Emma Kyzivat (co-leader), Katelyn Paddock, Maiya Pascouche, Brenna Pellon, Isabelle Dowd, Julia Dowd, Gabby Ostrov, Haley Latorre, Christine Schiller, Emily Steele, Sarah Ursini, Kristin Weiss (co-leader)

Woman’s Chorale: Madison Bailey, Alana Barker, Erin Brett, Sophie Capobianco, Lauren Cassot, Samantha Chesanek, Natalie Churchill, Emma Conroy, Sydney Daoud, Maria Diaz-Islas, Katherine Dzenko, Mary Firestone, Meaghan Ging, Julia Graham, Laure Gilbert, Maddy Haas, Angelina Hartnett, Maria Hodson, Ava Kahl, Kaitlin Keene, Hannah Kovel, Emily McMann, Jaylynn Moffat-Mowatt, Katie Palms, Caroline Pane, Lindsay Paquette, Katherine Robinson, Grace Rogers, Ava Rooney, Sophie Schwager

Unaccompanied Minors: Tim Amarell, David Black, Ian Braverman, Cam Delo (co-leader), Gabriel Garcia (co-leader), Luke Gilmore, Ben Grossman, Brian Hanshaw, Jacob Katz, Kenan King, Jacob Lill, Dan Peluso, William Shaw (co-leader), Christopher Wildman

Simsbury Singers: Tim Amarell, Kate Angus, Ana Ashchepkova, Isabel Bielat, Ian Braverman, Kate Campolieta, Hannah Cary, Olivia Coe, Maia Czaikowski, Emily Fritz, Gabriel Garcia, Madeleine Gastonguay, Halley Haruta, James Huang, Jacob Katz, Kenan King, Jacob Lill, Allison May, Katelyn Paddock, William Shaw, Sarah Ursini, Kristin Weiss, Dana Winslow

Andiamo: Rachel Aponte, Ana Ashchepkova, Brendan Barnard (co-leader), Kate Campolieta (co-leader), Emily Candels, Catherine Cantelmo, Katie Euting, Cedar Fillmore, Rige Grajcevci, Molly Grossman, Brennan McDermott, Caroline Pane, Ava Rooney, Nick Sanborn, Marc Sokolson, Grace Sullivan, Mallory Thompson, Drew Zenick

Mixed Chorale: Melissa Acheson, Kate Addis, Camryn Aponte, Rachel Aponte, Sarah Baierwick, Brendan Barnard, Rachel Baumann, David Black, Jameson Boeshans, Emily Candels, Nolan Carrier, Allison Colglazier, Ian Cosgrove, Cameron DeLo, Katie Doran, Julia Dowd, Maya Eckert, Zoe Eisenhaure, Katie Euting, Shannon Frasca, Madeline Gamer, Naomi Garcia, Luke Gilmore, Sienna Golden, Molly Grossman, Brian Hanshaw, Emma Hardee, Taylor Jackson, Jessi Kull, Emma Kyzivat, Grant Lammey, Haley Latorre, Sophie Levesque, Paige Lindsay, Patrick Lyman, Giuliana Marchetti, Alexandra Marecki, Jack Medve, Lucy Merriam, Andrew Mylander, Gabby Ostrov, Maiya Pascouche, Brenna Pellon, Christine Schiller, Devon Shugdinis, Sean Sinacori, Marc Sokolson, Grace Sullivan, Mallory Thompson, Kaylee West, Christopher Wildman