For the past eight years, Philips Holloway has been the director of the Lenoir City High School Choral Department.  Typically he holds three school concerts, two in the fall and one in the spring.  However the Spring Concert is different from all the others in the the respect that certain students perform solos and duets.  These performances occur in between the regular choirs.  Besides the extra performances,  a student teacher conducts at least one song for each choir.  There are also awards and Senior recognition.

 

The music itself ranges from classic to cultural to modern to gospel. The Concert started with Chorale, which is a beginning level four part choir. They performed four songs, two of which were performed by Ben O’Neil. O’Neil was the student teacher this year and worked with Mr. Holloway from January to mid March. The songs performed by Chorale were “ Come to me O my Love”, “A La Puerta del Cielo”, “Artza Alinu”, and “Bonse Aba”. The second and third songs were conducted by O’Neil while Holloway opened and closed.

 

After Chorale performed there were four solos by the Singers. Haley Morris, Madison Moats, and Tiffany Selvedge sang “If I Die Young” by the Band Perry.  They were followed by Sarah Charles, and Cailin Hurley and they were accompanied by Tucker McGinnis. They sang “Unbeliever” . Tucker remained on stage to perform “Landslide” in honor of his mother.  The second part of the concert was closed by Danielle Vasquez and Caleb Nadeau singing “So Sick”.

 

Concert Choir then took the stage singing “Come to the Music”, “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep”, “Balia Di Sehu”, and ended with a traditional gospel “ Praise His Holy Name”.  The second song was conducted by O’Neil while three students from the choir played the drums on “Balia Di Sehu”.

 

The second line up of solos contained three more performances and then on the last song the Singers joined in to begin their portion of the concert.  Alex Brede, Taylor Henry, Sarah King, and Kaitlyn Rogers sang “Summer Mashup”. They were followed by Caleb Bandy, Wesley Hutton, Philip Perkey, and Gideon Sledge who  stole the house with “Seven Bridges Road”. They received a standing ovation and an encore. After they exited the stage Makayla Chesney, Yahna Ninis, and Wesley Hutton on drums performed “Some Nights”.  As the song ended the rest of the Singers joined the on stage to finish the song.

 

The last five songs of the night were performed by the Singers before awards began. They then sang “Word Was God”, “Sing Me to Heaven”, “The Ground”, “Afro Celtic Diddle”, and for the first time ever “O Magnum Mysterium”. It was written specifically for the Lenoir City High School Singers.

After their performance Holloway handed out his few awards and recognized every senior in the Chorus classes this semester.