Centreville High and Liberty Middle schools will unite in song to present a Spring Choral Concert, next Thursday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. The free concert will be held in the Centreville High auditorium. Afterward, the audience is invited to join the performers for a reception in the lobby.“It’s some of the most beautiful music they’ve studied all year,” said Centreville Choral Director Lynne Babcock. “It really shows off their musical skill and talents.”Liberty’s 90-person choir, under the direction of Nancy Hayes, will be singing first. The students will perform “The Bells,” “S’Vivon” and “Kyrie.”“I’m so happy that our students can share a concert together,” said Hayes. “This way, the middle-school students are hearing the high-school choirs at their very best. And hopefully, it will inspire them to continue singing in choir when they get to Centreville High.”Centreville will showcase 125 singers in six choirs, each performing separately. They are the Women’s Ensemble, Men’s Ensemble, Concert Choir, Bella Voce, Symphonic Choir and Madrigal Ensemble.“This show is a preview of the music every choir will sing for District assessments at Woodson High, later this month,” said Babcock. “It’s the equivalent of the choral SOLs. All the students will sing for three judges — often, from other states — who’ll judge and score their performances.

They’ll also receive a full, detailed critique of their singing.”So, she said, “The spring concert is where we get to perform this music for the home crowd before it’s judged. What the audience will hear is the most challenging music the students will do all year. They work up to it, so it’s an important benchmark for them because they’ll display all the musicianship and techniques they’ve learned all year long.”Each of the six choirs will perform its own set of three songs each. Some of their numbers are: Women’s Ensemble, “In You I Sound;” Men’s Ensemble, “Rest Not;” Concert Choir, “I See the Universe;” Bella Voce, “Arise, My Love;” Symphonic Choir, “Sing Me to Heaven” and Madrigal Ensemble, “Fair Phyllis.”Babcock will accompany Liberty’s choir on the piano. Then, while she directs Centreville’s choral students, pianist Michael Maher — on the faculty of the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music — will accompany them.“We have a department full of very talented kids,” said Babcock. “They’ve been working really hard to prepare for this and I’m extremely proud of them.”Six Centreville students who’ll be singing that night were recently named to Virginia’s All-State Chorus. They are juniors Kayla Ebright, Joshua Ewalt, Jared Knutti and Lily Park, plus seniors Hailey Knapp and Patrick McGinty.“We’re hoping for a good turnout,” said Babcock. “We’d really love to fill every seat in the theater to support our students.”