High school band, choirs, to perform

The Sisters High School choirs and symphonic band will perform a concert on Wednesday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m., in the high school auditorium.

Two Sisters High School choirs will perform a variety of music for the concert. Each song selection provides student performers the opportunity to show that as individuals and as a group they are able to vocally create a completely different musical ambiance.

The Sisters Concert Choir, an all women's group, will perform a set of music which tells several completely different tales.

"In one moment the singers are hacking monsters to bits, and in the next singing the saddest tale of love," said choir director Tara MacSween. "Each student is committed to singing to their audience and telling the stories, and they are doing it beautifully."

The Sisters Chorale, a mixed choir of young men and women, will perform some exciting music on the concert which they are presenting at an upcoming choral music festival. Their set includes music from past and present by American composers Aaron Copeland and Jeffery Rickard, Renaissance composer G. Palestrina and a soulful African American spiritual.

"This set represents some advanced music for the high school level," MacSween said. "From fast moving lines to nonstop changes in the time to huge vocal ranges, this program is not for the faint of heart. There are moments when we all get to the end of rehearsal exhausted, but the reward comes in seeing one another challenged and hearing huge improvements that come from learning selections so advanced."

The Sisters Symphonic Band, directed by Jody Henderson, will perform the music selections which they have prepared for upcoming music festivals. Like the vocal groups, this large mixed instrumental ensemble is presenting a variety of subjects through their performance.

The band will perform three numbers, "each of which is based upon contrasting compositional and performance techniques," said Henderson.

The band will open with "Volver a la Montana (Return to the Mountain)," representing traditional Incan lifestyle in Latin American.

"Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold)" is a contemporary work arranged for band by one of the most acclaimed current vocal music composers, Eric Whitacre. This soothing selection is performed almost completely out of time and is filled with musical tension and release, which conveys the reflection, glimmer and intensity of light along with the smoothness and density of finished gold, Henderson said.

The band will close with "The Witch and the Saint," a 10-minute programmatic work based on a novel by Ulrike Schweikert. Filled with dramatic entertainment through the contrasting characters named in the title, it is arguably the symphonic band's showcase piece, Henderson noted.

"I hope the community will get out to hear these groups that have consistently performed at a very high level," Henderson said. "This is really the point of excellence of the year for these programs, which would be great to share with everyone."