By Jordan Freisleben

In their last ensemble performance of the year, the Chamber Singers did not sing a classical piece from the 19th century or a piece in a foreign language. As opposed to a more typical classical concert, the singers congregated on the field at Dodger Stadium before the Dodgers game against the San Diego Padres on Thursday.

They sang the national anthem before the game, then “God Bless America” before the Seventh Inning Stretch, both times conducted by Choral Director Rodger Guerrero. The choir was given the opportunity to sing by Howard Sunkin (Erica ’10), a senior vice president of the McCourt Group. Frank McCourt (Gavin ’09) owns the Dodgers.

“It was awesome and something we’re always going to remember even after high school,” Chamber Singer Ben Platt ’11 said.The Chamber Singers performed the National Anthem at Homecoming in October. This was the first time they performed at a non-school sporting event.

“It was fun,” Berni Barta ’10 said. “It was nice that we got to sing together again because all of our other performances were over.”

The choir found out that they would be singing at the game two weeks in advance. Despite the relatively short notice, the choir did not need to practice that many times.

“It wasn’t one of our classical concerts,” Jack Petok ’11 said. “We barely had to rehearse.”

With more than 30,000 fans in the stands at Dodger Stadium, this was the largest audience for which the Chamber Singers have ever performed.

“I was more excited than nervous,” Barta said. “We had been singing together for so long that it was exciting to sing at Dodger Stadium.”

“It was really a great chance to show our school pride and what Harvard-Westlake singers can do,” Petok said. “Especially in front of an audience of some 30,000 people.”