Chanticleer, an ensemble of singers, performed in the theater on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

Singers Cortez Mitchell, Marques Jerrell Ruff, Blake Morgan and Darita Seth represented the 12-man group on its day off from its U.S. tour. Choir director Sheree Stoppel orchestrated the event after meeting the singers through her son, Nick Stoppel.

“Nick … has auditioned for Chanticleer and … we’ve gotten to know some of the members,” Stoppel said. “I saw on their [tour] schedule … they were going to Halstead, Kansas, outside of Hutchison, and then a day off and then to Lawrence … so I contacted … one of the guys … and I said, “On your day off, in between, would you come to Mill Valley?” And he said that the whole group could not go as a group because it is their day off … but that either he would come or he would put together a quartet to come over and do it as a favor.”

While the singers only performed two songs, they also listened to and critiqued the Jaguar Singers.

“They worked with Jaguar Singers; they call it … an educational performance.,” Stoppel said. “It was really cool. They sang one song, then we sang our two songs, they worked with us and then they sang one more song. Then they took questions and answers from the audience.”

Senior Micaela Crispin, who is in Jaguar Singers, enjoyed the educational performance the most.

“When we were up there and we sang and then they worked with us, that was my favorite part,” Crispin said. “Just they … just picked us apart and picked out really different things that we could fix and make our music better … that I had never even thought of.”

Junior Quinn Sheehan, also in the Jaguar Singers, enjoyed listening to the male singers.

“It was really cool to see male singers that were successful in choir,” Sheehan said. “Most of the choir teachers I have seen are female, so it’s nice to see a leading male role. It was really fun, especially for the master class, because we just didn’t expect how they were going to teach us and all the tips that they gave us. ”

Crispin agrees.

“It was really cool. I’ve never heard a performance group like that where the men sing … all of the parts,” Crispin said. “It was cool to hear men that can sing way higher than I can.”

Despite the time crunch, Sheehan would have liked to interact with Chanticleer more.

“I would have liked to see them perform a little more, but I can understand it was their day off,” Sheehan said. “I also would have liked to have … done the songs through one more time again using everything they taught us, because we kind of got cut off by the bell, but it was still really fun.”

Although most students would have liked to see Chanticleer perform more than two songs, Stoppel believes the experience was very helpful to her students.

“I know [the students] wanted them to sing more, and I did too,” Stoppel said. “But just being able to meet and ask them questions … I think it was really good.”