When then-sophomores Olivia Noss and Emily Epstein set up for their first performance in the Black Box Theater, there was an air of curiosity amongst the audience, exhibited through the curious whispers through the theatre. However, as soon as the pair began to sing, the audience was left in awe.

“They were amazing together. I was so excited that everybody got to hear how talented these guys are,” junior Emma Wiley said about her classmates’ first performance during assembly. Emma was not the only student who was impressed by the performance, as junior Rohan Subramanian described the performance as “chilling.”

Noss and Epstein began collaborating in the fall of tenth grade. Noss approached Epstein to explore singing together because she just digged her riffs. “I had heard her sing before, in the musicals, and in class. I just really wanted to collaborate, but I never thought things would have come along so well,” Noss said.

These “things” that Olivia is talking about are the newfound fans the couple have at WIS, a YouTube channel up and running, a potential CD on the line, and multiple performances lined up at different coffee houses, including WIS’s own Faust coffeehouse.“I thought it would be a good way to test the waters so I could see how it felt to perform with somebody else next to me. Thinking back, I’m not sure I would’ve gotten past my initial stage fright without Olivia,” recalls Epstein.

When Epstein and Noss first stepped up to the stage of the Black Box Theatre to perform Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Hallelujah,’ the audience did not know what to expect, and neither did the couple of talented singers. “It was our first time performing together in front of an audience and we just told each other to relax and just go with it,” said Noss. However, both the audience and the performers were pleasantly surprised. Epstein recalls, “We both love the song but there were some parts we found tough to remember so I did not expect us to perform every part exactly as we planned.”

The two juniors now get together every Sunday to practice duets as well as write some of their own music. “That is something we are really working towards, writing something of our own and performing it in front of the school,” Noss says.

However, juggling the challenging IB program with their rehearsals has been difficult. Epstein explains that “it has been hard for [them] because [they] have been very busy with the IB and all the stress that comes along with it. However, we are determined to make it work.”

The breathtaking performance of Leonard Cohen’s song was the first of many events by the very promising partnership. The two singers have become a treat that the WIS community looks forward to hearing during assemblies. “I think our first performance might have been our best. Is that a bad thing?”says Noss, laughing. “We plan on focusing back towards emotional songs like Hallelujah because we feel that is what suits us best”.

In the near future, the WIS community can be sure that they will continue to hear from Noss and Epstein. However, while both say that they would love to continue singing together, the pair agree that the most important thing is that they continue learning from each other, working together to develop their potential as singers.

By Matteo Schlitz