Jewish music took center stage along with Jamie Skog last Sunday as she performed her senior voice recital as part of her completion of the opera program.

Skog performed seven songs at her concert which also doubled as her honors thesis. She had the songs broken up into three sections and in between each section she talked about what they were and the meaning was behind each section.

The first section featured part of the Amidah, which is one of the most important prayers in Judaism, explained Skog. The second song is a song by the Chasidic or ultra-religious sect of Judaism, who sing the song at joyful moments. She explained that it would be sung when a Holocaust survivor saw their grandchild get married.

The song was haunting and was enhanced by Skog’s gorgeous voice. Her soprano voice fit the song perfectly and when the song picked up the crowd moved with the music.

The next group of songs were taken from the psalms or the Tehillim which are generally attributed to David. The highlight of this grouping was an a capella version of the 23rd psalm. This famous psalm starts, “The lord is my Sheperd, I shall not want.”

Skog seemed more confident while singing this song. Her voice soared over all of the notes. She was at home with the music and looked like she was in another world while singing.

The last grouping of songs were slightly more modern but still taken from the service. The first song, called the Retzei was taken from the Amidah also.

The second song called the v’hafta was taken from Shema, where Jews affirm their faith in one God. In this song they promise to love their god with all their heart, soul and might. The final song was called Shalom Rav which concludes the Amidah and talks about peace on earth.

Skog sounded beautiful on all of these songs. Shalom Rav was the highlight of the show and finished off the performance with high energy.

She came back on stage for an encore with her younger brother Adam Skog. Their voices complimented each other well and it was a great end to the concert.

Her love of the material clearly shined through the music and only enhanced her wonderful performance.

The concert was performed to help her complete her Bachelor of Arts in music. The senior concerts take place all year and are free for students.