The Music Department held its combined Orchestra and Choir concert at the VPAC on Dec. 6. The performing groups included the De Anza Chamber Orchestra, Chorale, Vintage Singers, and Vocal Flight. The concert also featured a guest performance by the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus.

The concert’s finale was a sampling of pieces from the oratorio “Considering Matthew Sheppard,” which tells the story of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was killed for being gay in 1998. Notably, this piece featured all five groups performing together.

Transcript:

0:00

SANGO LEVONIAN: The music department held a combined choir and orchestra concert at the Visual Performing Arts Center on December 6th.

0:06

MARCEL CASTRO-LIMA: So we have De Anza Chamber Orchestra, we have De Anza Chorale, we have De Anza Vintage Singers, Vocal Flight, and as a guest we had the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus. So there’s this element of scheduling. There’s also the fact that we had a lot of different instruments and different setups that we had to manage and make  work as we changed from piece to piece.

0:30

LEVONIAN: The centerpiece of the evening was a selection of songs from the Oratorio, “Considering Matthew Shepherd” by Craig Hella Johnson, a performance featuring each ensemble.

0:46

XINGYUAN SONG: Johnson composed this work in response to the death of a 21-year-old gay man whose name was Matthew Shepherd. On October 6th, 1998, this University of Wyoming student, whom his mother and father called Matt was kidnapped, beaten, and left to die, and what became an infamous act of brutality and one of America’s most notorious anti-gay hate crimes.

1:20

ROBBIE KING: I got to know Matthew Shepherd basically by reading the texts on the music about what he liked to do, what he was doing in his life, and basically just what he loved and all his hobbies and everything.

1:33

CASTRO-LIMA: Considering Matthew Shepherd is at the same time a tribute to remember Matthew Shepherd. It’s also a warning of what can happen if we don’t exercise love and compassion for others and people who are different from us. I think it’s a pretty multifaceted work that doesn’t avoid the ugly aspect of this terrible fact, but at the same time is able to instill in us this idea that the world can be a better place. And the fact that you have all those different ensembles, which are very diverse and you have people from all walks of life, I think it’s very meaningful that every single person who performs separately got together for this piece.

2:20

KING: I’ve met a few friends here in the past, and I love that we all get to work together and we all get to, at the end of the day, just bringing on altogether. It’s just, it’s really brilliant and a lot of fun.

2:31

CASTRO-LIMA: I used to be a very shy individual and being around musicians and having to perform really transformed how I interact with other people, and I’m so grateful for what music did for me personally. And music has the power to do that for anyone really.

2:49

ALEX GITCHEV: I think there’s a little bit of music in all of us, whether you sing in the shower, whether you tap your feet, you tap on the windshield of the car, I’d say go for it. Find a way outlet to express yourself. I have a lot of friends, computer scientists, people who work in tech. Their biggest outlet is music.

3:04

CASTRO-LIMA: We have an amazing music program, so many talented students, and we put on shows every quarter, all the ensembles, every quarter. We have the Choir, we have the Orchestra, we have the Jazz Ensemble, and we have a piano recital. So all of them work really hard to put on shows that are really a joy to attend and watch. So the main thing is go check out your amazing music program. Go watch the shows, and every quarter we have amazing stuff for you.