SophiaReinhardt

Every year during the holiday season, Marian hosts its annual vocal and instrumental music concert. The concert was held on Dec. 3 and featured performances from the concert choir, select women’s choir, vocal jazz ensemble, instrumental jazz combo and the mixed ensemble. 

The concert choir, led by vocal music teacher Ms. Madeline Reddel, sang “Once Upon A December” from the movie Anastasia.

The select women’s choir, also led by Reddel, sang “Mary, Did You Know?” by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene and combined with the concert choir to sing “Silent Night, Holy Night” by Ruth Elaine Schram.

The mixed ensemble, led by performing arts department head and instrumental music teacher Mrs. Stephanie Dickes, played songs “White Christmas” by Irving Berlin, “Music from Home Alone” by John Williams, “Cantique De Noel” by Adolphe Adam and “You Better Sleigh!” by JaRod Hall. 

This year, the Christmas concert featured performances from the vocal jazz ensemble and the jazz combo. The vocal jazz ensemble, a small group of choir girls who focus on jazz, sang “Toyland” by Glen MacDonough and Victor Herbert. The jazz combo, a new group of mixed ensemble members who also focus on jazz music, played “Joy to the World” and “Away in a Manager” both arranged by Paul Clark. They also played “Deck the Halls” arranged by Andy Clark. 

The concert concluded with the playing and singing of “Hallelujah Chorus” by George Frederic Handel. This song includes the mixed ensemble and both choirs. The playing of “Hallelujah Chorus” has been a Marian tradition for many years. This year, alumni joined the students in performing this favorite piece. 

Sophomore Lea Fals, a mixed ensemble member, really enjoys getting to play in the Christmas concert. “Playing for people is really fun,” Fals said. The mixed ensemble only gets to play for an audience a few times a year, so they always hope for a positive outcome. 

Mixed ensemble started preparations for the Christmas concert in October. In order to have the songs sounding the absolute best way they can, practice must begin very early. “We practice all the songs together, and sometimes we do sectionals,” Fals said. The hope is that each part gets some time to work out the rough spots and then bring everyone together to work on blending sounds. 

Fals was “really looking forward to playing Hallelujah Chorus this year,” she said. The Hallelujah Chorus has been played at every Christmas concert for many years. “I think it sounded really good this year,” Fals said. 

The Christmas concert is one of Fals’s favorites because she likes that the band gets to show what they had been practicing. “We have been working really hard for it,” Fals said. “We also get to play lots of cool Christmas music.” 

Junior Annie Stessman, a select women’s choir member, also loves the Christmas concert because she likes to perform for friends and family. “I like spending more time with my classmates and showing my parents why I wanted to join choir,” Stessman said. The choirs also only perform a few times a year, so it is a special time for them to show off their skills and what they have been working on. 

Stessman had been working hard this year for the concert. “The hardest song was Hallelujah Chorus,” Stessman said. Although a very tough song for choir and band members alike, the Hallelujah Chorus has one of the most positive outcomes every year from the audience. “The timing and harmonies are hard to learn,” Stessman said. The song may be tough, but everyone can agree that when it comes together, it sounds wonderful.

Despite all the tough songs, Stessman loved being part of the Christmas concert. “The Christmas concert is so special because it helps the choir bond and the Marian community celebrate [Christmas],” Stessman said. Christmas is the season of bringing people together, and the goal of the Marian Christmas concert is to bring everyone together through the power of music. “It was so much fun to perform,” Stessman said.

Marian’s vocal choirs and instrumental mixed ensemble will perform at the vocal pops concert and the instrumental pops concert in February and in the spring at the combined spring concert.