Winter Choral Concert is impressive

Blair held its Winter Choral Concert on Friday night, Jan. 7, with a nearly full auditorium. The audience was a good mix of students and parents who arrived to see the Chamber Choir, the Guitar Ensemble, InToneNation, Blazer Choir and the Orchestra perform. The groups were led by choral director Paul Newport and band director Dustin Doyle.

The night started out with Chamber Choir, which blended its sopranos, altos, tenors and basses very well. They performed a very interesting piece titled "Mother, I Will Have A Husband" by Thomas Vautor, and although the lyrics were a tad odd, the quality sound made up for them. In their second song, senior Alicia Posner sang a beautiful solo, nailing every pitch. Chamber Choir's last song, the commonly known William Tell Overture, was well done, with singers' mouths moving so fast that it was robot-like. Overall, the Chamber Choir was synchronized and started the show off with a bang.

The Guitar Ensemble followed the Chamber Choir, putting a classical spin on the rock-guitar sound. Although they had a little trouble staying in unison at times, they accomplished a very wide range of tones, from medieval-sounding to calm and peaceful. The guitarists especially did justice to the popular song "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams.

InToneNation followed with a wowing performance as usual, making both the performers and the audience smile. Keeping their own beats with excellent timing, InToneNation performed songs ranging from tunes sounding like those of pop stars, with a shining solo by senior Brittany Moyer, to a more somber song.

They finished with junior Samir Paul proving that he could sound like an authentic DJ, while director junior Nathan Blustein's solo erupted through the microphone. The audience could not hold back laughs at the comical sight and sound.

The Blazer Choir, which is Blair's largest choir, stood out in their matching, spiffy red uniforms. The Blazer Choir represented Blair's diversity by singing not only in English, but in Japanese and Hebrew as well! However, no matter what the language, they were very sweet-sounding, putting on a good show and continuing to do so into the finale.

Doyle explained to the audience that for the final part of the show, the choir had tried something new: they joined with the full orchestra and even featured some staff and alumni. The result was a magnificent sound of unity and togetherness, fitting like a puzzle, as the song "He Trusted in God and Hallelujah!" filled the auditorium. And it was a grand finale indeed.