From Irish Folk to Jazz to Michael Jackson, Annual Concert “Unites” Student Vocalists From All Campuses

This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.

This year’s “United Voices” concert moved to the beautiful Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, where every one of Harker’s student vocal groups performed. The Bucknall Choir, comprising grade 4-5 students, got things started with the traditional Irish folk song “Shady Grove,” Franz Schubert’s “An Die Musik,” one of the few songs that evening to be sung in a foreign language, and “We Believe in Music” by Teresa Jennings.

The grade 6 show choir, Dynamics, included the iconic World War II hit “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Bigger Isn’t Better” in their three-song set.

Next up was the grade 7-8 group Harmonics, who sang “All That Jazz” from the musical “Chicago” before being joined by their classmates in Vivace, to sing their rendition of the Cyndi Lauper hit “True Colors.”

Starting off for the upper school was Bel Canto singing a medley from “West Side Story” and the traditional spiritual “Battle of Jericho.” Camerata sang Thomas Morley’s “Shoot False Love,” followed by the upper school show choir group Downbeat, who did the Michael Jackson classic “Man in the Mirror” and funk legends Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Sing a Song.”

The show ended with all of the night’s performers gathering on stage for a stirring performance of Jim Papoulis’ “Oye.”