13 Harker singers were recently named members of the California Choral Directors Association (CCDA) Coastal Region Honor Choir. Seniors Ava Arasan, Aria Jain, Sukrit Kalsi and Anika Pandey; juniors Arjun Gurjar, Shayla He, Katelyn Hsu, Miki Mitarai and Arushi Sharma; sophomore Hasini Namala; and freshmen Helen Gu, Charlotte Ludlow and Aditya Ramanathan will spend the next several weeks readying their repertoire for a special performance at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in November.
Harker upper school singers were recently named to three honor choirs. Seniors Teresa Cai and Anya Warrier, juniors Alan Jiang and Aniket Singh, and sophomores Anya Chauhan and Miki Mitarai will represent Harker in the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) National Honor Choir. They will perform in a virtual concert to be held Jan. 22-24.
Mitarai, Jiang and junior Aria Jain also will be members of the American Choral Directors Association Western division’s honor choir, which is slated to perform in Long Beach in March, at the ACDA Western region’s regional conference.
The California All-State Choir, selected by the California Choral Directors Association, will feature Cai, Jain, Jiang, Mitarai and Singh, as well as juniors Ava Arasan, Kris Estrada and Anika Pandey, sophomores Shayla He and Katelyn Hsu, and Varun Bhupathi, grade 9. According upper school music teacher Susan Nace, Harker has a higher percentage of students participating in the All-State Choir than any high school, and the highest rate of acceptance among independent schools.
“The directors of all the honor choirs are highly respected composers and conductors from throughout the United States,” Nace said. “Although we require our Certificate Candidates to audition every year, any of our choral musicians may audition. The audition is rigorous and includes sight-reading, vocal technique evaluations, and vocal quality evaluations.”
Nace added that Harker’s rate of acceptance this year was the school’s highest yet.
Following a rigorous audition process, six Harker students were recently named members of California All-State Ensembles.
Bassoonist Chelsea Park, grade 8, was selected to play for the junior high school symphonic band and violist Keira Chang, grade 7, was chosen to perform with the junior high school symphony orchestra. From the upper school, vocalist Malar Bala, grade 11, was named to the high school vocal jazz band, junior Rylan Yang was selected to play French horn in the high school symphonic band, and juniors Austin Wang and Tina Zhong, both violinists, were selected for the high school symphony orchestra and high school string orchestra, respectively.
This past weekend, Harker’s Bel Canto and Cantilena choral ensembles garnered unanimous superior ratings at the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Choral Festival, held at Saratoga High School.
Judges commended Bel Canto, Harker’s non-auditioned mixed voice choir, for its very mature and full sound, clean intonation, balance between sections and challenging repertoire. One of the judges was amazed to discover that the ensemble comprises mostly high school freshmen and sophomores.
Judges praised Cantilena, Harker’s treble ensemble, for its outstanding cohesiveness; superlative tone quality, balance, precision and technical facility; highly developed listening and adjusting skills; mature, expressive, dynamic and consistent shaping of musical phrases; and ability to explore a broad stylistic spectrum. “This is a great example of what a women’s choir can sound like,” commented judge Gail Bowers. “Hopefully, you will have the opportunity in college to sing in a group as good as this one.”
Comments from adult audience members, who approached the groups after their performances, included “spectacular performance” and “I’m very impressed by Harker’s choral program.”
The unanimous superior designation, given by four judges, means the choirs not only gave outstanding performances but also demonstrated outstanding music sight reading skills. This designation, if followed by two more in succeeding years, can result in a coveted showcase performance at regional and national choral conventions.
Bel Canto, under the direction of Jennifer Sandusky, sang Hans Leo’s “Hassler’s Cantate Domino” (1601), Emma Lou Diemer’s “Take, O Take Those Lips Away” from “Three Madrigals “(1962) and Stephen Leek’s “Morning Tide” from “Island Songs” (1994).
Cantilena, under the direction of Susan Nace, sang, Caterina Assandra’s “Duo Seraphim” (1609), Clara Schumann’s “Liebst du um Schönheit” (1841), and Abbie Betinis’ “Jerusalem Luminosa” (2006).