Cantare! Earned That Exclamation Point

written by Sarah Albright

Advertised as “Boomwhackers, Pirates, and Chickens,” The PC men’s choir, also known as Cantare! put on a wonderful and exciting concert on March 31. Conducted by our very own Dr. Davis and accompanied on piano by Dr. Stokes, they opened with a sentimental, spiritual feel by performing “Awake, My Sons, Arise” and “Dona Nobis Pacem.” A personal favorite was “Prayer of the Children.” It was well-done and left goosebumps on the arms and necks of the audience members. Michael Hardee played a beautiful accompaniment of “Steal Away” on the soprano sax. After, the performance took an international turn toward Africa, featuring Zach Wells on the djembe (sounds African) and senior tenor Layton Powers in “O Sifuni Mungu.” Still globetrotting, they traveled to Ireland and sang “My Hearts in the Highlands” and “Dulaman.” “Dulaman,” considering it is in Gaelic is a difficult piece, but Jacob Rogers’s solos kept a tight performance of the fast paced piece.
The group relaxed and let loose for the rest of the concert, pretty literally. The audience stared in amazement as the group started undressing, only to reveal matching tee-shirts. They needed to get comfortable because some of the group got to play boomwhackers. Boomwhackers are colorful plastic tubes of different lengths that produce singular notes when hit, and Cantare! proved that they can do more than sing. “Flight” with the boomwhackers was definitely a crowd pleaser. For more crowd pleasing, Layton was not only featured in singing solos, but also as an unexpected chicken clucking (which he did pretty well) at the end of “Chickens in the Garden.” One hilarious costume change later, they sang “Pirate Song” and it is a good thing that laughter does not mean walking the plank! The combination of eye patches, false earrings and parrots, and Robby Swab swabbing the deck (or stage in this case) was a perfect match for the hilarious lyrics like, “Pirates make me happy… arr.” To finish the concert, nothing could have ended it better than the tenors in tiaras and bonnets being serenaded by the other half of the men in “Whistle, Maggie, Whistle.” Great job guys!