At 7:30 pm on October 15th, the Staples choral ensembles performed their first concert of the year. The theme of the fall concert “New and Old,” featured songs from before the 1600s as well as from after 2000.

According to director of choral music, Luke Rosenberg, this theme “combined the best of both worlds…I love the Renaissance and I love contemporary choral music,” Rosenberg said.

His students seem to agree. “It’s great because we get to explore lots of different pieces of music that were written in both the 16th century and present day,” Julia Mandelbaum ’16, member of the Orphenians and a capella choir, said.

Bonya Kleiman ’16, also a member of the two groups, said she greatly appreciates the contrast between these two genres. Kleiman finds this combination “quite powerful.”

Mandelbaum and Kleiman sang a total of seven songs, yet they each have a definite favorite. While Mandelbaum’s is the Gregorian melody ” Ubi Caritas,” Kleiman favors “Chi la Gagliarda” of the Renaissance because it’s “extremely catchy… I bet the audience will have it stuck in their heads,” Kleiman said.

After months of rehearsal, the choral ensembles greatly succeeded in combining the “New and Old” genres.

“I think it was a smooth transition moving from one genre to the next. I’m really happy with the concert,” Rosenberg said.