Music lovers filled the pews at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on May 17, anticipating Glendale College’s Concert Singers Spring Performance.

Family members, friends and music fans attended the concert that filled the small church with graceful singing to please any listener.

Directed by Peter Green, the concert started out with a big bang as the singers performed “Gloria,” composed by Francis Poulene. Soprano Jennifer Miller pleased the crowd as she sang her solo.

The first half of the concert was accompanied by the Concert Singers Orchestra, which was led by accompanist Anita Hanawalt.

According to Green, the singers only had enough time for one rehearsal with the orchestra before the concert, and no one could tell because the performance went off without a hitch.

“I thought we did great,” said Green.
And he wasn’t the only one who thought so.
Michael Harmon and Bob Breitel, who are friends to most of the people in the choir, were blown away with the performance.

“Peter [Green] always floors me with the choices he makes,” said Harmon. “They pulled off some of the most complex switches I’ve ever heard.”

“I agree. It was complicated, but they made it look really easy,” said Breitel, talking about the complicated switches in such songs as Ramona Luengen’s “Missa Brevis” and Alberto Favero’s “Te Quiero.”

“‘Te Quiero’ was the hardest song because we had to sing really soft, but at the very end we can put our full voice in it, so it makes it really dramatic,” said tenor Robert Burnham.

And while the next songs in the program may have been a little shorter than the rest, they still kept people awake and in deep appreciation, consisting of songs like Edwin Fissinger’s “Lux Aeterna,” and William Hawley’s “Vita de La Mia Vita.”

The Concert Singers, who have been performing at the church for five years, ended the show with Brent Pierce’s “Hosanna in Excelsis.” Who knew singing voices alone could give off those strong vibrations?

According to Green, the reason why the performance took place at a church, instead of another venue, was due to the “really live acoustic” sounds given to the music.
When the concert was over, the singers received a standing ovation as everyone rose up from the pews.

“This was definitely not a clichéd concert,” said Harmon.

While the concert was in progress, a 4.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Southern California – except for everyone at the church.

When told about the earthquake, Green replied while chuckling, “Oh really? Guess we were into the music so much we didn’t feel it.”