In a combined appearance with St. Thomas High School's St. Thomas Singers, the Incarnate Word Academy Choir performed its fall concert, "Alway Something Sings" to an enthusiastic crowd of parents, grandparents, friends, faculty and staff from both schools. The concert, with a title taken from a choral setting of a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem arranged by composer Dan Forrest, featured a program of songs that celebrated the art of singing and the joy of music.

Led by choir director Joshua Wilson, who also leads the St. Thomas Singers, and featuring St. Thomas' Aaron Hervery on piano and Nora Navarro '23 on harp, the IWA choir performed a set of songs individually, before offering five more songs with the St. Thomas Singers. The boys' ensemble also performed a set by themselves.

Each choir performed a version of "Cantate Domino," with the St. Thomas Singers offering a modern rendition of the piece in a musical setting of Psalm 96, and the IWA Choir providing a more traditional styling of Psalm 149.

For the show's title piece, "Alway Something Sings," Dominique Nanquil '20 and Claire Sonne '20 had solos, and Sofia Garza '21 performed a solo in "Wana Baraka," composer Shawn Kirchner's up-tempo arrangement of a Kenyan folk hymn that proved to be a crowd-pleaser. St. Thomas' Francisco Llamosa, Noah Mims and Leo Wilson provided percussion on the piece. 

Nora offered harp accompaniment on "My Glentle Harp," a traditional Irish song, with a melody more familiar to the audience as "Danny Boy." 

Perhaps the surprise of the evening for the audience was the rendition of Smash Mouth's hit "All Star," arranged in the style of an English madrigal. In his introduction to the number, Wilson invited the audience to imagine a modern song "going back in time."

The concert concluded with Dominick DiOrio's setting of "An Irish Blessing," and was followed by a reception for the singers and guests.

The next IWA Choir and St. Thomas Singers concert will be the annual Christmas concert, held this year at St. Thomas on Dec. 12 at 7:00 p.m.

For another perspective on the concert, check out Olivia Green '20's blog post about preparing for the event.