By Qiu Tianshu
Special to the Tsinghua News Center
Cheers and applause filled the Meng Minwei Building throughout the evening of Dec.16, as the student chorus of Tsinghua University performed a special year-end concert.
Sponsored by the Communist Youth League of Tsinghua and Tsinghua Art Education Center, the two-hour concert, themed “Wonderful Chord,” consisted of 18 songs in five categories, including selected songs from Handel’s Messiah, folk songs from both at home and abroad, Christmas songs and love songs, as well as some patriotic songs to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the “Dec. 9 Campaign.”
The auditory feast attracted a large audience of more than 300. Some latecomers borrowed chairs to sit in the aisles, and others stood at the back of the hall throughout the entire show.
A foreign teacher named Lewis commented, “Wonderful! It is wonderful! They sound so good! And the music is wonderful too!”
Lewis came to the concert with three other foreign teachers, all of whom had students participating. “We all have students on the stage,” Lewis said. “I have a soprano, she has an alto, and he has an alto… They did such a good job, and we are proud of them.”
Some audience members from other universities also had high praise for the concert. Yun Mingkai, a student from the Chinese Academy of Science, said, “I came to Tsinghua just for the concert. They lived up to the theme of the concert--their voices are very harmonious.”
In addition to the music, the student singers also presented some skits which delighted the crowd.
In Vive L'Amour, staged by some members of the men’s chorus, several buddies were drinking and singing about their unfettered life when the wife of one rushed into the bar, and a humorous farce between the drunken husband and his angry wife ensued. The singers’ lively performance drew bursts of laughter from the audience.
A short musical drama, Lion King, brought the warmest reaction. The chorus performed a medley of classics from the movie Lion King, including Circle of Life, They Live in You, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, The Lioness Hunt and I Just Can’t Wait to Be a King.
At the close of the concert, the continuous applause elicited two encores: the Tsinghua school song and Goodnight Sweetheart It Is Time to Go.
