The Harker Heights High School choir’s annual rock-pop-country-vintage-contemporary musical showcase is just about to hit the stage.
This year’s Knight Club is set for Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.
The choir fundraiser supports student scholarships and underwrites the popular production.
Ticket prices range according to seat from $5 to $30.
For more information and a link to secure tickets, go to the following: http://www.hhhschoirs.com/knightclub.html
For choir students at Harker Heights High School, Knight Club is far more than another choral performance.
For two acts of 15 songs apiece, the audience is treated to wall-to-wall classic music from as far back as the 1960s to the early 2000s. This year’s 30 pieces range from Frank Sinatra to Billy Joel to the Spice Girls, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Carrie Underwood and Barry Manilow to name a few.
In addition to feature singers, duets and groups, the show includes the choir’s ensembles, the Iron Maidens and Pitch Black and culminates with a high-energy senior song.
Students dress and move and sing in the style of the artists they choose to emulate, and they provide their own background vocalists and choreography, set alongside a professional band and light, smoke and video elements.
Thursday afternoon, while preparing for their second invitation dress rehearsal, some of the many stars of this year’s show explained what makes Knight Club so epic going on 25 years.
Sophomore Nadiya Nunn grew up in Killeen and saw the Knight Club many times as a child and watched her older sister perform before debuting a year ago as a backup singer. This year, she is a frequent lead. Her pieces include a compelling duet, Like I’m Gonna Lose You.
“It’s a really big deal because we get to showcase how good we are at our pop songs,” she said. “We don’t just do choral music. We can do a lot of R&B and rock.”
Going into her first show as a main performer, she said, “At this point, it’s about centering myself to go on stage and play that character at that performance level.”
Junior Benjamin Saban Contreras is another busy performer on this year’s Knight Club stage.
“Knight Club is one the biggest productions in town. It’s full-out with live band, live lights, sound techs, it’s the real deal,” he said.
“What I love is that we get to showcase a lot of versatility. We get to pop out and show an entirely different set of skills.”
Contreras shows his range while front and center in two duets – a song called Lay Me Down with Jaedon Trevino and a country song called Barton Hollow with Jasmine Brown.
“What’s fun is getting to meet all the people in choir,” said senior Angelica Gonzalez, pointing out the rare opportunity for freshman to senior students from all the school choirs to converge together to perform outside the formal choral style.
She expressed excitement over a large ensemble performing the Spice Girls’ Wannabe. “It includes a lot of acting. We get to push around the boys.”
Another senior, Jaedon Trevino, said this year’s show, his fourth, combines the excitement of high-energy music with the emotion of the final Knight Club for him and his class.
“Knight Club is a fantastic experience. It’s amazing we get to do this. We can show our true senior selves and have as much fun as we can. It feels different because it’s the last year. I’ve had a great time with it,” he said.
“It’s just so fun. You have no nerves, you’re just there to show off your talent.”
One of the highlights on the packed program, he said, is Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, one of several story-telling songs.
Trevino stretches his musical muscles in this year’s show leading a version of Foreigner’s I Want to Know What Love Is, a soulful duet made famous by John Legend and Sam Smith and a boyband tribute to the Backstreet Boys’ Everybody.
Take a look at our photos and video from this year’s dress rehearsal and the Saturday show here: www.killeenisd.org/photos
