Warren chorus to perform at Cavs game
VINCENT – For the Warren High School bass chorus, Saturday will mark the continuation of a years-long tradition.
The group will open the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA game by singing the national anthem.
“Several years ago the Cavs contacted me about having the chorus come to sing,” choir instructor Mary Nuzum said. “I don’t know where they got the information about us, but they asked us to send them a recording so they could evaluate it. They might have seen us listed in a state competition.”
This year’s bass chorus is 22 voices, she said.
The students in the chorus range from freshmen to seniors, a mixture of those who have been to the Cavs game and those for whom this year will be a new experience.
During a break in class Tuesday, senior Jeremy Lee talked about the annual trip to Cleveland.
“It’s my fourth time,” he said. “It’s chaotic when you get there, you try to stay focused but it’s a rush to get out there on the floor, then you go into performance mode.”
The RocketMortage Fieldhouse in Cleveland holds more than 20,000 people. A.J. Sullivan, a junior, said it’s his second trip.
“Being under the seats, then going out onto the court with the lights and all those people, the nerves just hit you, but after you start singing it settles down,” he said. “It’s just a really cool experience.”
Although the chorus is in close proximity to the team, Lee said he hasn’t had any interaction with any of them, aside from tossing a basketball to one when it strayed off-court just as the chorus was leaving the floor.
Nuzum said she sometimes changes the arrangement of the anthem the chorus sings, depending on the voices she gets from year to year. Lee said last year the Cavs played the Toronto Raptors, so they also sang “O Canada!” to start the game.
Isaac Martin, a freshman, said he only learned of the trip after he joined the choir this year. It will be the biggest crowd he’s performed for, although playing for Bands of America last year was a large audience.
The singers said they are not particularly big basketball fans but enjoy occasionally watching games at school.
“The most fun is hanging with the other chorus members on the bus ride,” Lee said.
Their performance of the anthem won’t be televised at home.
“ESPN doesn’t start until after we’re done,” he said.
Nuzum said the performance is an honor the chorus has to win back every year.
“We have to send in a new recording every year, it’s not just a shoo-in. This year is going to be great,” she said. “They’re pumped and ready to go.”
The games, with the Cavs meeting the Portland Trailblazers, starts at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Michael Kelly can be contacted at mkelly@mariettatimes.com.