To wrap up the festive school spirit the week before winter break, the State High choirs held their annual Winter Pops Concert. The show featured performances by the 9th-grade choir, Tremble Makers, Cecilian Singers, OMA, Chamber Singers, and Master Singers.
All ensembles were led by choir director Erik Clayton.
The winter show holds a special place in performers’ hearts due to its cheerful, low-stress, fun winter atmosphere. Master Singers, Chamber Singers, 9th-grade choir assistant Maddie Powell described the atmosphere of the concert.
“It’s so low stress we’re not as worried about the music, we’re not in our robes, we get to wear whatever we want and perform songs that are just all upbeat and the element good feeling to them they’re and its right break so everyone’s really already happy and like the stress is low,” Powell said.
The concert featured ten songs, beginning with the Cecilian Singers performance of “Last Christmas” by Wham!, featuring soloist Whitney McMullen.
Tremble Makers followed with “Let it Snow” by Vaughn Monroe.
OMA, the lower range group of singers, performed “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” by Albert Hague, with solos by Donavin Ortiz and Santino Depalma.
Chamber singers performed “The Christmas Song” by Robert Wells and Mel Torme. Clayton explained that this piece had been written in July as a way for the singers to imagine a list of thoughts that could cool them down during the summer heat. The performance included a solo from Varrah Gramling.
Next came Master Singers with their rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms, a new addition to the Winter Pops Concert.
Celian and Master Singer member Audrey Shaner shared the story of how “Jingle Bell Rock” was added to the performance list.
“There was the day that Clay[ton] was trying to decide what song we were gonna sing in Master Singers, and he played us two different songs. He had us play through and vote, and we were all like both of these are terrible. They were like the most random, one of them I think was like ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland.’ Were we all like, ‘Clay, what is this?’ And he was like, ‘what you don’t like these?’ We were like, ‘no!” Shaner said. “We were all yelling about what song we wanted to do and we told him to find a better one. Then he came in with the music ready and we were like this better be good and it was ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ and we all thought it was so good.”
The Master Singers performance was followed by a combination of upperclassmen choirs with three songs: “El Cielo Canta Alegria” by Pablo Sosa, an Argentinian worship piece; “Durme, Durme” a traditional Ladino lullaby; and “This Christmas” by Nadine McKinnor and Donny Hathaway.
The final performances of the night were full combined choir pieces. They performed “All I want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey, featuring Kate Schark as a soloist, as well as “New York, New York” by John Kander and Fred Ebb, a beloved piece by many in the choir.
Chamber Singers and Cecilian Singers member Jenny Heim discussed what the song meant to her.
“My favorite is ‘New York, New York.’ It always has been. I really wanna go to college in New York, that’s just like, oh my God, this is it all together,” Heim said.
Shaner agreed with the sentiment surrounding the song.
“We always sing ‘New York, New York,’ which is so fun. There’s this really fun alto part where we finally get to like singing really low and everyone just gets really excited when we just sing really low for the harmonies, and we’re all just like belting it out.” Shaner said. “It’s so much fun. You can’t even hear yourself, it’s so loud. in there.”
Senior performers reflected on the cherished traditions that have become a part of the Winter Pops Concert, making their final show bittersweet.
“I’m gonna really miss me and my best friend Genevieve…we have matching Christmas sweaters that we [got] for the concert, and it’s just gonna be sad that this is the last time we get to [wear them together]. We got [the sweaters] freshman year and we’ve been doing it every year so it’s just like sad,” Shaner said.
Powell also reflected one what she will miss most about the event.
“I’m going to miss the sense of community the concert brings. Everyone wearing their ugly sweaters and after this concert was super special because all the seniors were giving each other hugs and crying and I’m just gonna miss, like, everyone being in the same place making music,” Powell said.
Powell also expressed her gratitude for the concert, after performing in it for a final time.
“The best part about performing is sharing with our families and the community, everything we really work for during the school day. With this concert specifically, it’s a lot of the upperclassmen that have already graduated, they’re on break, they all come back,” Powell said. “So last night there were like just a ton of people that graduated before us and it’s just nice to know that next year, when we were all in college, we have something to for sure come back to.”
