The planetarium was once a haven for starry exhibitions and discussions about outer space, but on Thursday, Feb. 21, the space, now used by the choir program, was transformed into a casual forum for members of the Madrigals Singers to perform.
The Madrigals Singers kept the tone of the evening homey; senior Rebekah Sheff and sophomore Eli Okum served as waiters, taking and serving audience members their coffee and pastry orders, while select members of the advanced choir group performed an array of whimsical pieces--ranging from original songs, covers of classics, dramatic poetry and even a comedic kazoo performance.
Coffee House, in comparison to other choir performances, is casual. The dome of the planetarium ceiling featured an illumination of a starry sky and the room was adorned with fairy lights.
Students, like sophomore Miles Platt chose to take advantage of this casual performance to showcase his original song, called “Wait,” a song about ambiguity in relationships and will be made available on Spotify sometime soon.
“I love performing, especially in a laid back music setting, so Coffee House was the perfect opportunity to do just that,” Platt said. “The most memorable aspect for me was seeing everything come together. So many different people with different musical styles and acts came together for one night to raise money for our vocal music program, which is just so cool to me.”
Junior Ava Dadvand chose to stray away from the classic structure of Coffee House by performing an original poem, “To Serve: A Three-Course Dining Experience,” about her New Year’s Resolution (to serve looks) and how that applied retrospectively to different eras of her life. Accustomed to reading her poetry at her poetry class, Dadvand didn’t shy away from the closely-knit crowd last night; her sassy, dramatic tone and discussion of relatable emotions and experiences elicited laughter and applause from the audience throughout the entirety of her three-part poem.
“I immediately saw an opportunity for wordplay between serving looks and serving meals, and from there the poem was born,” she said. “I decided to perform this poem at Coffee House because of all of my fully-edited, performance-ready poems, I felt this poem was the best fit for the audience.”
The night, not limited to solely serious performance, ended on a light-hearted note with a comedic performance from sophomore Will Judd who simultaneously played the piano and two kazoos. The variety of types of performances is what makes Coffee House, to Dadvand, so great.
“My favorite part of Coffee House is that it shows off an exciting variety of talented performers that don’t otherwise get solo opportunities. It’s also worth noting that Coffee House is open to all members of the Vocal Music Program, which means I get to see incredible performances from members of other choirs,” she said. “The vibe is definitely different from other Madrigals performances because of how laid back and free-form it is.”