By Angelica Niedermeyer, News Editor

The Trinity Hall Singers joined the Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) choir on Dec. 2 in the CBA Jazz Series’ tribute to Charlie Brown with the well-known jazz pianist and composer David Benoit. Benoit played the widely familiar and classic holiday music made famous by Vince Guaraldi in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The concert, held at CBA’s Henderson Theater, also included a “Peanuts Piano Concerto” tribute to Charles Schulz, songs from the musical You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown and Mr. Benoit’s own works.

The singers were thrilled for the musical opportunity and excited to perform with such renowned professionals. In addition to the singers, several students were involved in ushering and worked behind the scenes of the event.

“I was feeling very excited to perform in this concert. I had never done any jazz performances before, so I was excited as to how the whole ensemble would sound when everything came together at the end,” freshman Amanda Philipson said.

“Being able to perform in an SATB [soprano, alto, tenor and bass] choir was a really fun experience, and [it was] really exciting to hear all our voices being blended together really beautifully in such a short amount of time with the help of Mr. Bogdan and Mr. Lopez [the music director at CBA],” junior Julia Hallman said.

Hallman further explained that an SATB choir allows for a wide range of sounds since it is complete and includes all male and female parts. The singers worked hard to practice and rehearse for this concert and met with the choir members at CBA three times before the concert.

“[In] chorus rehearsal, we learned the songs and our harmonies and then combined with the CBA choir, which was fun to get the mix of both men and women’s voices. I enjoyed it because it was nice to perform with friends that go to CBA, and it was also great to work with them and get the mix of great voices we have,” senior Anna Phillips said.
“Performing alongside David Benoit made the whole experience even more exciting,” said Philipson.

Not only was this concert a professional opportunity that gave the singers more performing experience, but they also found that waiting to perform brought them together and made the experience come full circle.

“I think that the time waiting in the room and the rehearsals really helped many people to bond and create connections that would not have been possible without this night,” Philipson said.

Many singers said they enjoyed branching out and taking advantage of outside opportunities in addition to events within Trinity Hall.

“I really enjoyed my time at this concert. The Trinity Hall girls were all super supportive of one another, and it was great to get into the Christmas spirit,” sophomore Faith King said.