On Jan. 30, the Houston Chamber Choir hosted the 17th Annual Invitational Choral Festival. The festival took place at Grace Presbyterian Church in Houston, and Cypress Ranch’s chamber choir, the Concert Chorale, was chosen as the only high school to perform in the “Hear the Future” concert.

Every year for the festival, festival invites one elementary, one junior high, and one high school to perform at the one-night event. The other schools that performed with Cypress Ranch were Parker Elementary School and Nolan Ryan Junior High School.

“It was an honor that we were picked over other high schools,” sophomore Michael Cartwright said, a member of the chamber choir that performed at the festival.

With about 50 other members in the choir with him, they have been working on the song selections since the beginning of school and have stayed after school for extra rehearsals up to three times to help them prepare for the festival. They picked three songs to perfect and perform: “Jesus is a Rock in a Weary Land,” “Oh Clap Your Hands,” and “Gentle Annie.”

“I enjoyed ‘Oh Clap Your Hands’ the most,” Cartwright said.

But of course, the high school wasn’t the only choir that did so well there. The audience raved about the elementary and middle schools’ performance.

“My favorite thing about the festival was that the elementary and middle school kids did so well,” Cartwright said.

The night was just all around great, with a wonderful performance from all three choirs. Trophies were given out to the directors and the room was filled with positive attitude from everyone.