Over the course of the spring semester of 2022 Bakersfield College has hosted many of its firsts, both overall and post-pandemic. BC has now held their first choral concert with no restrictions in regards to mask mandates or cap on seating capacity on April 22.
The concert included a mixture of well-known songs that the audience knew, or was at least conceptually familiar with, as well as more classical pieces that only the music majors and music aficionados in the room had reference for.
The concert began sweetly, harkening back to not too long ago when the members of the choir were relegated to rehearsing and meeting via crowded Zoom windows as opposed to their theater.
The first song the audience heard was in fact a video, spectacularly recorded in terms of direction, editing, and sound mixing. The video featured the choir students singing “O love,” before ending with an identical shot of what was presently on the theater’s stage, beautifully transitioning the audience out of the digital world to that of the physical world they inhabited, finally able to sit in the presence of the musicians without barriers.
The more well-known as well as higher energy songs seemed to be the ones the audience reacted the best to. Featuring songs from musicals such as Le Miserables, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” in tribute to Ukraine while a slideshow of Ukrainian images that the audience could reference to that of those featured in the news played above the choir. They also sang “Louder than Words,” from the new adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s musical, “tik tik…BOOM!” that can be found on Netflix.
The crowd was raucous the most at a song played near the end of the concert, “Sound Off,” as it used unique vocals and clear excitement in the singers to create an infectious excitement within the audience. The crowd was encouraged to participate in cheering and calling out during the song, and did so quite enthusiastically! A mix of military calls and strict, tight choreographed standing and minimal motions and sudden passionate dancing made for an extremely entertaining leading close to the concert, and truly a spectacular way to spend a Friday night, especially with plenty of people who could also partake in the fun.