The lights dimmed before the Madrigal Choir started the Coppell Choir Spring Concert with the song “Jesus bleibet meine Freude” by Bach on Tuesday at 7 p.m. the auditorium. This is the final concert of the year for the Coppell Choir.

The choir performed the pieces they performed for UIL. All four choirs that competed in UIL earned the distinction of Sweepstakes, which is the highest possible rating. The choir has been working hard on these pieces since February.

“There is a high bar already set because people already know that we got Sweepstakes,” CHS Madrigal senior Megna Gopinath said. “Because of UIL, we had to put in the extra amount of effort. That will set this concert apart compared to the other ones because [in the] fall concert and winter concert, we didn’t have that pressure on us.”

Earning Sweepstakes at UIL, most of the choir was confident and eager to showcase their skill to family and friends at the spring concert.

“It definitely made us more confident because when we got Sweepstakes at UIL, it really boosted our morale a lot,” CHS Kantorei junior Neha Darimadugu. “The judges were able to give us those critiques and descriptions of what we needed to improve on and that really helped us to increase our musicality and our tone and how we pronounce our words.”

The choir’s repertoire included many genres such as Baroque music and Scottish folk songs and many languages including English, Spanish, German, Hungarian and Latin.

“When we choose our repertoire, we think about what kind of fundamentals the kids are going to get out of this? How can they grow as musicians?” Coppell choir director Bona Coogle said. “We’re thinking about exposing them to different genres of music so that they’re not singing the same genre over and over again. Singing in different languages, different genres, different composers, just to ensure that they’re well-rounded musicians.”

Last year the spring concert was virtual, so this is the first in person spring concert for a lot of choir members.  

“Any time we have an in person concert opportunity for our singers we get excited because they get to showcase everything they worked hard on,” Coogle said. “They all performed beautifully and the concert went really well. I’m really proud of them.”

This is also a final performance for some seniors since it is the last concert of the year.

“I’m sad because it’s ending,” Gopinath said. “I’m going to miss this experience since I’ve been in choir since sixth grade. I’ve been with Coogle and [choir director Aaron Coronado} for all of high school.”