In honor of Veterans Day on Nov. 11, Rio’s Vocal Ensemble performed “Let Freedom Ring”, a choral concert under the direction of the conductor Dr. John St. Marie and Derek Gordon (the Collaborative Keyboard Artist).

The free concert was held in the Wray Theater from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m on Oct. 17.

The public was welcome to attend and share the enjoyment of each one of the vocalist’s unique voices.

Rio Hondo’s Vocal Ensemble consisted of twenty three vocalists.

Terrence Clark (“Can We Sing a Song of Piece), Brian Santana (“U.S. Armed Forces Medley), and Perla Santiago (“With These Hands”) all performed beautiful solos.

The conductor, John St. Marie, sang a piece entitled “The Morning Trumpet,” which was quite outsanding.
The vocalists were quite lucky to have such a conductor and mentor.

All of the songs sang in the concert were related to America and its fellow soldiers.

As Santana sang “U.S. Armed Forces Medley”, anyone in the audience who was a Veteran was asked to stand so that the audience could honor them.

Music from John Safford Smith, Ken Ashby, Abner Silver, Paul Halley, and many more were performed at this concert.
It was in fact very patriotic with the background of the stage being the American flag, changing from red, white, and blue.

The ending to the closing song “Soldier Wont You Marry Me”, had a very surprising ending.

Two of the vocalists, a women and a man, came from the stands and acted out a slap on the face!
It lightened the mood and gave the audience a good laugh.

The vocalists along with St. Marie had only five weeks to learn all the songs and practice them.

Vocalist Frank Cervantes said, “It was fun learning all of the songs and my favorite song out of all them would be ‘Soldier Wont You Marry Me’. It was a fun song to learn, especially the ending.”

St. Marie said, “We all had a good time learning and singing together.”

He also thanked the audience and said, “Art cannot happen without people to come out and watch, so thank you all for coming out tonight.”

Rio Hondo will be holding a “Veterans Comedy Night” on Nov. 5 in the Wray Theater at 7 p.m.

The public is welcome to come out and join in on the laughs.