The voices of 32 UT students rose above the Performing Arts Center Saturday night during the show “Starstruck: Own the Night,” where performers treated the audience to renditions of current hits as well as ‘80s classics.

“Starstruck,” put on by the Longhorn Singers, consisted of two acts featuring songs performed by the entire group as well as by smaller groups. The process of putting on a show like “Starstruck” takes an entire semester said Kelsey Kopankiewitz, public relations freshman and Longhorn Singer.

The Longhorn Singers is a mixed-gender choir group that puts on shows for the UT and Austin community, such as local retirement homes and pep rallies.

“We love to sing, so anytime we get invited to sing around campus or at events around Austin, we make our best effort to be there,” said Megan Short, mechanical engineering sophomore and the Longhorn Singers’ publicity director. “We love sharing our love for music with the community.”

The group numbers were chosen by both the officers of Longhorn Singers and their director, Sheryl Jones, while the other numbers were arranged by the students, who had to audition for the positions. After the songs are finalized, the dances for the performance were created by three different choreographers in order to express different styles.

The Longhorn Singers also perform at the Texas versus OU game in Dallas every October and have been chosen as one of the 12 acts to perform at the Texas Revue on April 21, a student-run talent show sponsored by the University Co-op.

“We sing all over the place to get Texas spirit going everywhere,” said C. Taylor Henderson, English sophomore and Longhorn Singers historian.

Students must complete both a singing and a dancing audition each semester in order to join the group.

Currently, there are 32 students in Longhorn Singers and their majors range from music to mathematics and engineering.

“It’s very rare that you have 32 people that are so diverse that combine so well for a common purpose,” Short said. “I didn’t really have any singing or dancing in my first semester in college, so I knew I wanted to put performing back in my life and I auditioned for Longhorn Singers the spring of my freshman year.”

Kristin Meeks, Plan II and chemistry freshman, came to the show to support her friends and was impressed by the result, she said.

“This show combines two of the best things in life, music and dance, and the song choices for tonight were very entertaining,” Meeks said. 

Printed on Monday, April 2, 2012 as: Longhorn Singers host "Starstruck" performance