On December 12, Brooklyn Tech’s Visual and Performing Arts Department presented the 2024 Winter Choral Concert. This year’s concert featured performances that spanned various genres, cultures, and eras.
Beginning Chorus opened the concert with “Tunakuja na Wimbo (We Come with Song),” a Swahili song arranged by Brain Tate. With songs like “Gloria,” composed by Mozart, and “Deck the Nutcracker Hall,” composed by Tchaikovsky, Ms. Basia Revi added, “We always love to present the classics from different time periods. It exposes students to different genres, different time periods, composers, different languages and cultural backgrounds.” For their final song, Beginning Chorus sang the beloved holiday tune, “Let it Snow!” arranged by Andy Beck, featuring soprano and baritone solos from Janelle D’Haiti (‘28), Eva Gentile (‘28), and Tahmid Ahnaf (‘27).
Concert Choir followed, bringing the holidays to life with a quick succession of timeless and festive hits such as “And the Glory of the Lord” by G.F. Handel; “Oseh Shalom” arranged by Russel Robinson, featuring solos from Selina Huang (‘27) and Biological Science major Daniel Krichker (‘26); “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” arranged by Larry Shakley; “O Holy Night,” by J.S. Bach; and finally, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clark Moore.
Next on the program was Treble Choir, starting with a traditional African song and dance, “Kaki Lambe,” then “Coventry Carol,” arranged by David Metzger, and “This Little Babe” by Benjamin Britten. Collaborative Pianist and Biological Science major Yuki Chen (‘25) said, “[“This Little Babe”] was only about two minutes long so if you’re watching it from the audience in the blink of an eye it’s done, but being behind the scenes I knew how hard it was for the singers to sing in such a fast tempo…the song was so fast but a lot of work went into it.” To end their set, Treble Choir sang “Dirait-on” by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Finally, Tech Chorale, the last group of the concert, took the stage to sing “For Unto Us a Child is Born” by G.F. Handel. Under Ms. Revi’s conducting Tech Chorale began the last segment of the concert with, “Daniel, Servant of the Lord,” arranged by Moses Hogan, which featured first-time soloist Rex Lei (Social Science Research ‘26) as he delivered an unforgettable bass solo. Amelia Waldron (Biological Sciences ‘26) commented, “[Daniel, Daniel is] really vibrant, it’s loud but it’s also exciting, it just comes together really nicely and works well with our group because our group is pretty loud.”
“Only in Sleep” by Sara Teasdale, began with a solo from Derin Senay (Biological Sciences ‘25) followed by Zarya Hussein (Physics ‘25), Mia Tessler (Biological Sciences ‘25), and finally Waldron. Next Tech Chorale sang, “The Ground” by Ola Gjeilo. Lastly, in collaboration with Tech’s A Capella Club, Tech Chorale sang “Broken Tech Christmas,” a student-arranged mashup of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with other pop songs including “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas, “FE!N” by Travis Scott, “7 Rings” by Ariana Grande, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, and “Last Christmas” by Wham!
A common nexus for the soloists is the chorus’ ability to transform their fears into strengths. Hussein encapsulated, “I remember sophomore year was the first time I sang a solo in front of the chorus…that was the first time I sang basically anything in front of anyone and it was absolutely terrifying…now it’s not really all that scary anymore… it’s fun.”
For Lei, this solo was a moment of pride. He noted, “I’m really proud of how I did in that solo because after the fact so many people complimented me and it was the first time I had felt that kind of validation so I’m looking forward to the next one.”
As Senay approaches her last high school concert she reflected, “I always want to have music in my life…I’ve actually learned a lot of musicality that I didn’t have before. Just practicing everyday because that’s the class we have everyday, it really has helped.”
For the concert’s grand finale, Tech Chorale, Treble Choir, and Concert Choir came together to sing the holiday hit “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas,” arranged by Mark Hayes.
“Everyone is really talented and supportive so I always think it’s really fun to collaborate with them…that’s what’s so nice about collaborating because it’s not just about yourself anymore but it’s also about taking everyone else into consideration,” Chen remarked.
“[The students] are not just singers but musicians, creators, arrangers, and composers,” said Revi.
