About 25 members of the choir gathered in a colorful classroom three floors below the main floor and practiced both our songs and getting our starting notes from Rene without a piano or other musical reference. Just before 4 PM, we all trooped up lots and lots of stairs to the main floor, where we were going to perform in the entrance lobby.

We began with Siyahamba, which always catches everyone’s attention and followed with Ose Shalom, Wanemo and Oy Es Dia de Placer. Ambitiously, we sang Waltz of the Flowers, which we needed to re-start in order to get on tune, but then it went beautifully! We had a lively singalong with Rocka My Soul, dividing the audience into three groups to join us in the different parts. Od Yavo, Down by the Riverside and This Land is Your Land also functioned as effective singalongs and we closed with spirited renditions of Give Us Hope and Let There Be Peace on Earth. Rene did a wonderful job of getting each section its proper pitch for each song!

The audience was both fluid and attentive – children moved about, some sitting and clapping along with the music, one traipsing up to Rene’s music stand, which Rene carefully secured with his hand. Several older women sang every Hebrew song and singalong and were thoroughly engaged in the entire concert. Many others joined in on one song or another. There was a lot of activity and some hubbub to sing over, but there was a wonderful feeling of connection and appreciation of each other between the choir and the audience. A good time was had by all!

-Peace of Heart Choir Singer

It has become a tradition for a member of POHC to do a post-concert write-up. It started when our Sign-up Coordinator began emailing her summaries to the other members in order to entice newer members to sign-up to sing at community concerts held early in the season. It didn’t take long for Concert Write-ups to become greatly anticipated amongst our members, so we share them here in hopes that you’ll join us at a future concert.