Holiday concerts that sleigh

By Morgan Gage     11/29/22 11:28pm

While campus studies for finals, a capella groups on campus are studying their sheet music in addition to hitting the books, rehearsing and preparing for end of the year performances during the last week of classes and into finals.

The Rice Apollos and Rice Low Keys have a joint holiday performance Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Rice Memorial Center Chapel. The Rice Philharmonics have a holiday show Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m., also in the RMC Chapel. The Philharmonics will also be performing for a Fondren Library study break Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 2:30 p.m. with ornament crafting, snacks, coffee and tea provided by Fondren.

Perry Lin, the Apollos’ music director, said that he is looking forward to seeing how the Apollos and Low Keys “mesh together.”

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“We prepare our own parts, and then we come together and do one joint rehearsal to see how well we can blend across one rehearsal,” Lin, a Jones College senior, said. “So I’m excited to see how we match [joint performances] in the past. There’s been room for work in the past, so I’m hoping that we can sound extra good this year.”

Sophia Cha and Kennedi Macklin, music directors of the Low Keys, are excited that this performance gives the Low Keys a chance to explore new musical possibilities with the additional range of the Apollos. Cha hopes that the joint concert also gives students a chance to support more a capella groups on campus.

“I feel like a lot of the time people only go to one or two a capella groups, because you only go to performances that your friends are performing in,” Cha, a Brown College sophomore said. “So this is a great opportunity to see work that other people on campus are putting in. I hope [our performers and audience] get to hear something that they haven’t before.”

The Philharmonics, who rehearse three times a week according to music director Audrey Ma, will have their Dec. 7 performance in addition to a study break at Fondren and off-campus performances. Ma, a Wiess College junior, said their holiday show will be complete with fun skits between songs, choreography and a “chill” energy. 

“This year, we have a lot of new Phils … so they’ve gradually gotten to see how we work as a group and stuff,” Ma said. “And having fun during concerts is a really big part of it, so I’m excited [to] give them that experience as well. Because … the holiday concerts are always just really fun and chill, and we’re not really focusing as much on technical things, like how good we sound. It’s more … as long as we’re all happy.”

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