Worldly Cabrillo Ensemble to Perform Tonight

Cabrillo College's prestigious chorus ensemble, Il Dolce Suono, has worked on new music all year and is set to perform "One World Many Voices," on Friday, at 7 p.m. The concert will showcase songs from Israel, South Korea, Samoa, Estonia, the Republic of the Congo, the United States and more.

Il Dolce Suono, or “Sweet Sound,” in Italian, began in 2009 with just five devoted students. The number has since grown to about 20. 

“They have evolved into a very fine ensemble, and the students primarily run themselves,” said Cheryl Anderson, choral director and Il Dolce Suono adviser. "It's one thing to sing a piece of music, and it's quite another thing for them to direct it and take charge of it themselves." 

The concert's entire set will be sung in its original languages. 

“Everybody speaks the universal language of music, so even though we don’t speak each other’s national languages, we can understand each other through music,” said Jorge Torrez, 22, an original member and leader of the choir.

Torrez said that after the first concert last year, the ensemble was really pumped up and wanted to put together another performance this year. He found much of the music from researching and watching Youtube videos.

The ensemble members also got some of their material from the American Choral Director’s Association conferences, for which Anderson is Western Division president. 

Members of the ensemble are excited, because they know that this show is going to be worth seeing. 

“All the pieces have their different qualities, and each piece has an awesome musical idea,” said Torrez.

The show will start in complete darkness, with the chorus singing an Estonian lullaby. The ensemble will also sing "Five Hebrew Love Songs" by Eric Whitacre, which were first written as solo pieces and then adapted for a chorus to sing. The songs tell the love story of one couple, with the girls and men taking turns singing the different parts.

Attendees can also look forward to the "Samoan National Anthem," arranged by ensemble member James Lesu-i; a techno version of a song from the opera "Paradise Los"; and, perhaps, the most intriguing, the laughing song "Pal-so-soeng" from South Korea, which Torrez described as a wordless, nine-minute song guaranteed to provoke laughter from the audience.

“It’s hilarious. There are different people in the choir that do these different laughs," said Tanya Harris, 20, another founding member. "There’s one person who is crying, and then they burst into laughter, and there’s another person who has this super dark, evil laugh, and then a woman who seduces with this sultry kind of a laugh.”

Accompanying the vocals on Friday will be violins, claves and congo drums.

Il Dolce Suono performs at the Cabrillo Music Recital Hall at Cabrillo College on Friday at 7 p.m. $10 general, $6 w/student activity card. Tickets at the door only. 6500 Soquel Dr., Aptos. 831-479-6100.