It was a series of firsts for the Coppell High School choir department during Tuesday’s fall concert: the first performance of the 2018-19 school year, the first time the department included a varsity women’s treble choir and the first time new assistant director Aaron Coronado conducted at a Coppell concert.

“Once we were onstage, once everything got going, it felt awesome,” Coronado said. “It was just like ‘alright, here we go’ and it turned out amazing.”

Prior to the concert, the rows of the CHS auditorium filled from the very front to the very back with audience members eager to see what the show had to offer. Lining the center section of seating were the smaller peripheral seats where the black velvet clad choir singers awaited their turn to showcase their talent.

Most times, cheers and applause would signify excitement from a crowd. In this case, however, the same feeling was conveyed through silence. As Coronado and choir director Bona Coogle stepped out from the wings, the voices of the audience immediately hushed in anticipation. The Madrigal choir rose from their seats and took their places onstage.  

After a brief introduction and the first of many rounds of applause for Coronado, he began to conduct and the concert went underway. The first song, of both the performance and of Coronado’s Coppell choir career, was “The Silver Swans” by Orlando Gibbons, sung by the Madrigals. This was followed by a rendition of “Ubi Caritas” by Maurice Durufle, which showed the choir’s strength in volume control and unison.

“It went wonderfully,” Coogle said. “They all performed beautifully and it was amazing. I am very happy and pleased.”

After came the Tenor Bass choir, which was accompanied by the piano playing skills of senior Tim Sanchez. Thunderous applause followed the two songs of “Aura Lee” by Emily Crocker and “Nelly Bly” by Glenda E. Franklin, for both the singers and the pianist.

Treble Choir B followed, featuring a flowery first song called “Duet from Cantata no. 15” by Bach and a chilling rendition of “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” by Christi Jones.

They were followed by Treble Choir A, which performed an elegant song titled “Adiemus” by Karl Jenkins. While this song’s lyrics have no meaning, the words being all meaningless syllables, the song filled the auditorium with beautiful sound. It concluded their part of the concert with “The Violet” by Mark Patterson.

Chorale was the next choir to take the stage. It began with work by Mozart, a song called “Ave Verum Corpus.” It ended its set with a bright and vibrant piece called “The Tiger” by Sherri Porterfield.

Next was Kantorei. While a class of the same name existed in prior years, for the first time this year, it served as a women’s treble varsity choir. Its debut performance went off with a brilliant display of talent with the song “Der ist Gekommen” by Carla Schumann that boasted its powerful vocals. Their second song was sweet and gentle to the ears, “Will There Really Be a Morning?” by Craig Hella Johnson.

The final individual choir of the night was A Cappella, the varsity bass choir. It delivered an enchanting execution of “Ballade to the Moon” by Daniel Elder  and then a slightly more humorous, but equally stunning, rendering of “I Got a Hog and a Pig” by John Wykoff.

The final two songs of the concert were performed by the combined choirs. While it made for a bit of a crowded stage, the culmination of the seven individual choirs’ vocal skill made for an outstanding finale. They first performed “Hark I Hear, Harps Eternal” by Alice Parker, which resonated throughout the auditorium in a show of high caliber singing. The last piece was “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” by Peter C. Lutkin, which closed the concert in a strong manner. The audience expressed strong approval with a lengthy applause.

“I feel like the performance went really well,” sophomore student representative and Kantorei singer Zoe Cripe said. “We did all our dynamics, we got out songs down, it went well.”