The Upper School choirs hosted a concert in St. Savior’s Chapel during lunch May 16. The concert featured Mae Mae Gad ’27, Alice Torosyan ’27 and Maylie Macias ’26 singing “Not Strong Enough” by Boygenius; Jaiden Matthews ’25 singing “Footnote” by Conan Gray; Assistant News Editor Colin Ho ’26 and Cole Firshein ’26 singing “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar. At the end, all choir ensembles performed “Missa” in tempore belli by Joseph Haydn and “Ave Verum Corpus” by Mozart.
Kieran Lyons ’26 conducted the Mozart piece and said he was honored to have the chance to share his passion with his peers.
“I’ve been fascinated by conducting since I was little,” Lyons said. “I remember watching John Williams conduct the Star Wars score and thinking it was incredible. When Dr. [Sara] Shakliyan offered the conducting class, I signed up right away. Conducting my peers felt amazing. I had been working on this piece for a while, and it was so rewarding to see it come to life during the concert.”
Macias said the trio first began with her selection of a song that required a three-part harmony.
“The trio was formed because I really loved the song ‘Not Strong Enough,’ mainly because of how inspirational it is,” Macias said. “I knew I wanted to perform it, but it’s a song with a three-part harmony. I thought it would be a great opportunity to perform with my peers, so I asked people in my choir to perform with me, and my friends [Torosyan and Gad] volunteered because they loved the song too.”
Macias said the performance went well despite the delayed preparation.
“Since this trio was formed last minute, we all learned our parts separately and met three times to rehearse the song together leading up to the concert,” Macias said. “We didn’t rehearse with an instrument accompanying us until the day of, but it still went well and we were proud of our performance.”
Firshein said they love the chapel concerts because they offer a rare opportunity for the choirs to come together in a supportive setting.
“The chapel concerts are a time for the choirs to show each other what they’ve been working on,” Firshein said. “Everyone works so hard, so it’s nice to see people grow as singers throughout the year.”
Gus Mercado-Quinn ’25 said although he mainly attended the concert to support a friend, he was surprised with how well the choirs performed. .
“Going into this event, I wasn’t very familiar with the choir program, I went to go see my friend, and I was blown away with with their performance,” Mercado-Quinn said. “I thought they were very talented, especially for a high school choir, and my favorite part was just seeing them bond as a community through their shared love of singing.”
