The stage was as empty as a student’s wallet, and most seats were filled by an eager audience waiting for the fall choir concert to begin. The Lakeland College music ensembles were backstage nervously waiting to sing and entertain at their first major concert of the school year.

The fall choir concert took place on campus in the Bradley center on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Performing first and ready to impress was Frauenchor, also known as the women’s choir. The group consists of only about 16 members. The highlights of their performance included an A cappella rendition of “Adoramus Te,” as well as a playful and exaggerated version of “When Love is Kind” in which the women pretended to be conflicted as to whether or not they hated romance. After performing a few more rehearsed songs, the piano was pulled offstage to make room for the next act.

Next to perform were the Lakeland singers. This group consists of musically inclined men and women who are personally selected through an audition process. The group travels around the Sheboygan area singing and representing Lakeland’s music division at churches and schools. They sang a spiritual and an old jazz standard, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”, ending the song by throwing their music folders to the ground.

Lakeland College concert choir closed the show. They performed an exuberant rendition of “Cantique de Jean Racine.” Another highlight was their performance of “Amani.” The exotic song seemed to have the audience tapping their feet.

The groups were conducted by Visiting Instructor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Lani Knutson and piano accompanists included Associate Professor of Music and College Pianist Arthur T. Johnson and sophomore piano performance and pedagogy major Katie Christensen.

Lakeland students who attended the concert gained one convocation credit toward graduation while simultaneously enjoying the show. The student body seemed generally pleased with the music and performers.

Junior sociology major Chieko Kusanagi said, “I didn’t know we had a choir group in this school, so it was a really nice opportunity to know we have these kinds of groups at this college.”

“I thought it went really well…The music was well received by the audience,” said freshman, music education major, Jacob Nault, who performed with the Concert Choir and Lakeland Singers. “I got a lot of compliments on our (choir members) performances,” Nault said.