The Berlin Advanced Treble Choir performed at the Asbury United Methodist Church ahead of their visit to the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference.
On Friday, Jan. 28, the advanced ensemble joined their teacher, Mr. Sribanditmongkol, at the church for a pre-view concert of the music they will perform at the conference. Since the conference is at 11 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 2, the concert allowed Berlin students to support their classmates despite the formal performance during school hours.
The concert had free entry and drew both members of the church and students to watch at 7 p.m. that night. The pamphlet given out included personally written letters from the Olentangy Superintendent and the Olentangy Berlin Principal as well as lyrics to all of the songs. Different from the arrangement at the conference, the pre-view concert also uniquely included soloists such as Gabbie Morrison ‘24, Shea Manley ‘25, and Via Morgan ‘25.
The Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference is the third largest music conference in the United States and they invited only two high school choirs this year to perform. After a blind audition process, the Olentangy Berlin Advanced Treble Choir was chosen and became the first, not only Olentangy Berlin performing arts group but within the entire Olentangy District to perform. In addition, the Board of Education for the Olentangy Local School District recognized the choir at their meeting while they performed. It was the first time a performing arts group was recognized there from Berlin since the Cinderella musical cast the first year Berlin was opened.
The advanced ensemble has worked on the songs they plan to perform since the beginning of the school year and had weekly rehearsals after school in the last month of January. They have also had multiple professional music directors from around Ohio who worked with them specifically for the performance.
“It felt so good to hear our music that we’ve been working on since the start of the school year come together in a nice performance,” Giana Ray ‘24 said,“I can’t wait to do it all again at the OMEA conference.”
The performance is accompanied by drums and an entire quartet. Orchestra players that are members of Chamber, the highest class of orchestra, put time outside of school as well to join the choir in their performance. Grace Heitkamp ‘25 plays the first violin part with Cindy Cai ‘25 as the second violin. Andrew Schneider ‘25 is the only cellist and Ryan Szafranski ‘26 is the violist.
The performance is centered around peace, celebration, and strength and includes songs such as “Stardust” and “When I Rise Up.” As they traveled to the church and plan to travel to the conference, the opportunity to perform not only displays their incredible skills, but also the meaning of their words and lyrics.
