The Singer’s Showcase on Friday, January 26, was no typical choir concert: instead, soloists and small groups took the spotlight. Held at 7:00 PM in the Taylor Performing Arts Center, the show included songs like “Young and Beautiful” by Lana del Rey, “Still Hurting” from “The Last Five Years,” and L7’s “One More Thing.” Performer Jennifer Xiao (‘24) explained that during the concert, “instead of singing as a group, with an emphasis on blending and staying together, the showcase celebrates each individual singer and allows for small groups and soloists to stand in the spotlight.”
Unlike the name might suggest, the annual Singer’s Showcase is not limited to just singing, and can range from instrumental performances to monologues. Even within the musical performances, there was a wide range of genres, from group acapella arrangements, to classical piano music, to Broadway showtunes. The first performance of the night was a German aria performed by Raphael Delgado (‘24). Raphael, who has been singing at Bishop’s since 7th grade, said that his favorite part of the Singer’s Showcase is that “There aren’t really stakes to the performance. Normally during a choir concert, professionalism is a big aspect of your performance, but during the Singer’s Showcase, people don’t have to stress too much. It’s a very supportive atmosphere that allows people to explore and share their musical interests.”
Bishop’s Singers, an on-campus choir group, performs The Singer’s Showcase. Member of the Bishop’s Singers Jackson Weisser (‘26) said, “I really like all the opportunities we get. For example, we are going to New York later this year to sing. We also get to sing some incredible music.”
Choir Director Dr. Christine Micu added, “There’s a magic that we create together when we are all making the same piece of music together, when all of our hearts and minds are in this one place all together, doing the same thing, creating this beautiful art form that really can’t be replicated by anything else. And it just gives us this amazing feeling of camaraderie and putting something beautiful out there in the world.” This sense of camaraderie was visible in the many group performances of the night, when students shared the stage and sang together.
One such performance included all of the seniors in Bishop’s Singers. Emma Madany (‘24) introduced their song, the Pentatonix arrangement of “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” saying, “As second semester seniors, we feel like we have an obligation to do as little work as possible, so we’re going into this with only two days of rehearsal.” Despite this, the audience seemed to love the performance, they enthusiastically clapped and cheered after all of the performances.
Dr. Micu shared that prior to the actual performance, there was, of course, a lot of preparation that went into it. She said “We have auditions about two weeks before, although the students know about it all year … and the students have to perform their act for me, and I will give them the green light, or else I’ll tell them, ‘Oh, maybe you need to work on this a little bit more.’” She continued, “On the day of the concert, we have a tech rehearsal, where the students practice their act on the stage. And we run through the concert in order, and then we have dinner together.”
The Singer’s showcase, being a unique type performance for a choir, is exciting for the performers. Sofia Hayden (‘25) said that she enjoys “the freedom to really do whatever you want. You get to hear a lot of unique and memorable performances.”
Dr. Micu explained that her favorite part of the Singer’s Showcase is “Getting to see the members of choir do things that kind of really feature themselves and their own voice, which is not necessarily the voice or the singing style they use in choir. And sometimes someone will come out and just blow us all away with something that they can do that I had no idea, because that’s not what we do in choir every day.”
