Gaeta 1

Vanessa Gaeta
MUS 101-02
Dr. Dave
December 9, 2014
Concert Report: 2014 Holiday Choral Spectacular

On November 20, 2014 I attended The 2014 Holiday Choral

Spectacular at seven pm in the University Theatre at CSUDH. There
were fifteen performances in total, this was more like a choir since the
whole cast was on stage at all times. The conductor for the night was
Dawn Brooks, and at her side was Neda St. Clair on the piano. Some of
the instruments used were the bass, piano, drums, and guitar. In
addition to the variety of instruments the vocalists also used different
ranges of vocals such as soprano, which is a type of classical female
singing that has the highest vocal range of all voice types; alto, which
is the highest part of a contrapuntal musical texture; and tenor, a
singing voice between baritone and alto that is the highest of adult
male voice range.
The concert was held at the University Theatre, it had much
more seating than the previous concert I had attended. The audience
again, was mostly students, the total audience filled up about 40-50%
of the concert hall. The audience was relatively quiet, and engaged,
however, there were a few people who were talking and horsing

Gaeta 2
around during the performances. One of the most interesting things
about the concert was watching the conductor, Dr. Dave occasionally
would follow along the music by moving his hands, but to actually see
it live was fascinating.
This concert was very jolly and upbeat, everyone did a
marvallous job, I loved every performance. The first performance of the
night was Ziguenerleben, Op.29, no.3 by Robert Schumann, it had very
nice piano pieces and a couple of solos by Jennifer Stuck, Alisha
Sabrowsky, Michael DAleo and Perry Hayes. The Second Performance
was Trois Chanson de Charles dOcleans by Claude Debussy performed
by Jolly Rodriguez, Alisha Sabrowsky, Patrick Paresa, and Jason
Magallenes. Claude Debussy, was a Late Romantic Impressionist, in
this piece he creates several harmonic shifts and three movements:
first, a love song; second, soloists; and third, winter you are a villain.
The following performances were very good as well, but my favorite
one of the night was The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Jeff Funk, this was
my favorite because throughout the song the performers actually
created animal sounds, it was awesome! Following The Lion Sleeps
Tonight was Back to the 50s Medley as a Jazz standard, this was
also one of my favorite ones because Kwame Grants dance moves
were so funny, his enthusiasm made the performance that much
better. Overall I loved every performance from this concert.

Gaeta 3
If I had to choose between the Classical and Romantic Concert
and The 2014 Holiday Choral Spectacular I would no doubt pick the
second one. Each performance was SO fun and upbeat, which made it
more enjoyable for the audience. This concert made me realize how
much talent we have here at CSUDH. I loved every performance!