The end of the year, the choir concert holds a special place in the hearts of both the listeners and performers. This concert is an important way to show off everything the choir has accomplished throughout the year and as say goodbye to the seniors. However, this year is going to be extra special due to some star power hidden up the choristers’ sleeves.
This semester the choir has been working on writing and performing their own pop songs. They have partnered with Geena Fontanella, a country-pop singer and songwriter, who will guide them through this process.
Choir Director Dr. Kent said that doing a “pops program” at the end of the year is traditional, but she actually came up with the idea to partner with a pop artist doing her summer gym routine this summer. One of her gym instructors, Alex, mentioned that he was an agent for a young singer Geena Fontanella. Dr. Kent says she googled the name as soon as she got home and fell in love with her music. She then pitched the idea of a collaboration and mentorship with her choir students to Alex and Geena who both loved the idea.
Ms. Fontanella is an up and coming country pop artist. She sings a cover of a new song every week on her Youtube channel and writes her own songs. She is known as the “Queen of Hearts” by many of her fans due to her tendency to play off her darker, rawer side — although “everyone knows she has a heart as pure as an angel.” She is known for using theatrical tricks to create a haunting on-stage persona. She describes her own style as “operatic pop with a twisted fate” and cites Heart, Pat Benetar, Hailey Williams, and Tove Love as her influences and inspirations. You can find out more about Geena and her story at geenafontanella.com
Ms. Fontanella, who is based in Los Angeles, visited Roosevelt during the first week back from winter break and junior Isabel Lundquist describes her as “super sweet and super chill.” This semester Geena will be checking into the class every week by and will be helping students through the process of writing lyrics, creating harmonies and developing a personalized style and performance quality.
Dr. Kent says she hopes that through this collaboration, the students learn about “Geena’s process of being a songwriter and performer, [and] the ups and downs of trying to make it in an industry that is really competitive. I know that they will be inspired by how hard she works to make things happen.”
Isabel says she and the other choral students are ecstatic to be starting on this project. For most members of the choir, the process of writing their own songs is a completely new frontier, although a few have some past experience with it. She says, “our hardest challenge will be working with peers and figuring out the direction we want our songs to go and how to compose the melody and write lyrics.”
The students will be working together in six groups composed of different vocal types. In the culminating concert each group will perform their own pop piece. Along with these songs the concert will include two cuban songs, a song by Billy Joel, the seniors will perform solos, Geena will perform her own set and then the choir will sing one of her pieces, “Fight Again”, with her in a choral arrangement. Isabel is extremely excited about this concert because she says it is a great opportunity “to showcase the diversity of pieces [the choir] has been working on.” The Concert is on June 12th in the Roosevelt Theater and tickets will be on sale soon on the Roosevelt website.
Graphic By: Bethany Belina
