A few familiar faces were present at the St. Louis Renaissance Festival on Sept. 19 in the form of Oakville High School’s elite, tryout-based Madrigals Choir. There, the group performed four songs wearing full Renaissance-style garb despite the unseasonably warm weather.
Though it may have been some of the students’ first time singing at the annual festival, Oakville Choir Director Chelsea Ayres shared that it is “probably the 12th time” the special choir has gone and the fifth time it has performed.
“When I called about five years ago to get group tickets, they asked if we wanted to perform and get in for free. Before, we would have songs ready, and we would kind of sing off to the side and just let the kids experience it, but (the festival) started wanting to actually schedule us instead of having us kind of be ambiance in the background,” Ayres said.
Ayres and her Madrigals Choir had only one month to prepare for the show — a particularly difficult feat, as the group sings songs in four languages: German, Latin, Spanish and English. Despite the time crunch and language barrier, Ayres shared that she had full confidence in her singers as they are the Oakville choir program’s most advanced chamber ensemble. The group, open to freshmen through seniors, is made up of just 18 students this year, but each acknowledges the independent musicianship that’s required in addition to their class meeting — especially in cases like this with so little rehearsal time.
“In a typical class, there’s a ceiling to as far as they’re going to be able to go with their musicianship, and this class enables them to go beyond that,” Ayres said. “It really provides that extension level for our really truly gifted students, and they really, really thrive on that. It’s cool to see them grow.”
As for highlights, in addition to no one fainting due to the heat, Ayres shared a special moment from the performance.
“A professional choir director was in the audience. He was mouthing the words because a lot of the songs that we do are the ones that they do. That was just sweet; it was a fun collaboration, for them to see that they’re connected to the bigger music world outside of what we do here,” Ayres said.
She added, “It’s important to me that they are studying historical music … we like modern music as well, but … there’s something very significant about music that was written 400 years ago. What’s cool about this event (is) it makes that come alive, like, these are not just old dead people; they were quirky. Honestly, Renaissance people were some of the strangest people.”
