The Main Street Singers and Concert Choir participated in the West Valley Choral Festival and the Santa Clara Choir Invitational as their first public performances of the year on Friday, October 22.

At the afternoon festival the choirs from Los Altos shared their repertoire with two middle schools, three high schools and the West Valley College Chamber Singers. The two choirs from LAHS sang pieces ranging from sacred works to negro spirituals. Clinician Dr. Buddy James then gave critiques to improve the groups’ musicality.

“It provided us with the opportunity to view other choirs and see how they can improve over short periods of time,” senior Goku Killer said. “All of their improvement we could apply to our own sound.”

Other choirs surprised the LAHS singers by presenting playful pieces such as “Bagels and Biscuits,” “Aka Baka Soda Cracker” and “Animal Cracker,” which all included choreographed dance moves.

“My favorite song was the last one [“Animal Cracker” sung by the West Valley College Chamber Singers] because of…their ability to keep straight faces while singing such challenging lyrics,” senior Victor Gutierrez said.

Later on that evening, the concert in the Santa Clara Mission featured the Palo Alto High School Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers and the Santa Clara Chorale. The Main Street Singers added a motet and a piece involving bells to their evening repertoire.

Santa Clara Chorale Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau said he invited the LAHS choirs after hearing them perform at the San Jose Choir Invitational last year. Singers felt privileged to have the opportunity to sing in Santa Clara Mission, which was filled to capacity for the concert.

“It was really exciting to present ourselves for the first time this year as Main Street Singers or Concert Choir,” junior Sage Yort said. “We got to show how hard we have worked so far this year and see the progress of other groups. I really enjoyed it.”