A few familiar faces were spotted at the St. Louis Renaissance Festival on Sept. 19, featuring Oakville High School’s talented, audition-based Madrigals Choir. The group performed four songs in full Renaissance attire despite the unusually warm weather.
Although it was the first time for some students to sing at this annual event, Oakville Choir Director Chelsea Ayres mentioned that it is “probably the 12th time” this special choir has attended and the fifth time they’ve 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 had only a month to prepare for the performance – a challenging task since they sing in four languages: German, Latin, Spanish, and English. Despite the tight timeline and language differences, Ayres expressed complete confidence in her singers as they are part of Oakville’s most advanced choir group. Open to freshmen through seniors, this year’s ensemble consists of just 18 students who understand the level of independence required beyond their regular classes – especially with such limited 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 from the day-besides no one fainting from the heat-Ayres recalled a memorable moment during their performance.
“A professional choir director was in the audience. He was mouthing the words because a lot of the songs that we do are ones that they perform as well. 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; these are not just old dead people; they were quirky. Honestly, Renaissance people were some of the strangest people.”
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