Oct. 20 was a beautiful, musical night at Saint Leo University. For the past five years, Dr. Cynthia Selph, Instructor of Music, has been orchestrating annual Fall into Song concerts held at Saint Leo University. The groups of performers that participated in this fall’s Fall into Song concert were the Saint Leo Singers, the Saint Leo Chamber Singers, the Jazz Ensemble, the String Ensemble, and Just the FACTS. The Saint Leo Singers, the Saint Leo Chamber Singers, the Jazz Ensemble, and the String Ensemble are groups of Saint Leo students. Just the FACTS is a faculty and staff chorus.
The SCC Boardroom was packed and buzzing with excitement minutes before the first show. There was a large turnout of students, family, and friends. Just as the lights dimmed, the crowd went silent and all eyes were on the stage.
The Jazz Ensemble performed the first song of the evening, “Sprach Zarathustra” “Afro-Blue,” and the twelfth song, “Can’t Hide Love.”
“Jai Ho,” from Slumdog Millionaire, was the second song and was performed by the Saint Leo Singers. The tenth song was a performance of “Skyfall,” from James Bond: Skyfall, by the Saint Leo Singers.
The fourth performance was “Safe and Sound,” from Hunger Games, by the Saint Leo Singers’ Women with soloist Rebecca Trabing.
The fifth song of the night performed was “Cups (You’re Gonna Miss Me),” from Pitch Perfect, by the Saint Leo Singers with soloist Johanna Woods.
Two songs were played by the String Ensemble; the third song, “Game of Thrones,” and the sixth song, “Speck Softly, Love” from the Godfather.
Song number seven was “River” and “Gabriel’s Oboe,” from The Mission, performed by Just the FACTS with Todd Burnett playing the oboe and Abby Collins playing the cello. Just the FACTS also performed the eighth song “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: Episode I the Phantom Menace.
The ninth performance was “Star Wars-John Williams is the Man” by the Saint Leo Singers’ Men.
“Mission Impossible Theme” was the eleventh performance and was performed by the Saint Leo Chamber Singers.
The last and thirteenthperformance was “Glory,” from Selma, by the Saint Leo Singers with soloists Eddie Gemma, Todd Burnett, Rebecca Trabing, Janai Harris, Faith Healy, and Keronhica Desir.
The showcase of Saint Leo University ensembles was a wonderful event that displayed a variety of great talent and dedication on the part of the students, staff, and faculty participating. Just observing the cast before the performance, one could tell that a lot of hard work and time was put into the preparation and execution of this Fall into Song concert. Every number was delivered with excellence and near perfection.
Lacey Hall, freshman, was one of the many attendance of October’s Fall into Song concert.
“[It was] amazing,” said Hall. “So much better than high school ones I’ve seen. The base line in all of them were amazing.”
Hall was overall impressed with the performance. As a musician herself, Hall had some comments about where she feels some of the instruments might improve.
“But,” Hall added, “All the songs were really good; I could not pick a favorite!”
Fall onto Song is an excellent concert that anyone would benefit from attending just to hear the diverse and synchronized beauty of it. There will be more chances to personally attend a Fall into Song concert.
“Our next concert will be the Christmas concert on Dec. 1,” Dr. Selph said. “Which also showcases all of our ensembles.”
Save the date and be sure to come and enjoy a spectacular evening of great music!
