Libertyville High School’s varied Choir ensembles combined to bring holiday cheer to the community in their annual Holiday Music Festival on Dec 10 and 15, 2024. This concert, under the direction of Choir Director Dr. Jeffrey Brown and accompanist Ms. Claire Dixon, was full of joy and celebration and was met with a very enthusiastic audience.
The concert was the pinnacle of two months of preparations for the main choral ensembles as well as three extracurricular choir groups. “There are 120 kids in Choir, and for probably half of them, it was their first holiday concert. So, given that knowledge, it went great,” Dr. Brown said.
This concert in particular consists of many long standing choir traditions. The first tradition was found at the beginning of the concert, as instead of the chorus filing in from backstage, the singers began a slow procession into the auditorium from the back, holding candles and singing as they went. “I just really like the atmosphere,” freshman Matthew Giovanetti said.
The choral ensembles played many holiday classics, such as “Feliz Navidad,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “Last Christmas,” and even “Let it Go” from Frozen.
Along with many standards, a few fun and unique twists were scattered throughout. For example, the LHS Chorale, the freshman ensemble, performed an interesting arrangement of “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” using Kazoos in their performance. “It was fun for the Freshmen to do something a little different,” Dr. Brown said. “It’s their first experience there, so I wanted the audience to enjoy a song from them.”
The four main choirs were also accompanied by three co-curricular choral ensembles: The Cleftomaniacs, the Acabellas and Master Singers, who brought their own special flair to both performances.
The next and likely most memorable tradition of the evening is the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus. This classic choir piece has been on the Holiday Festival program for many years and always with a special twist: members of the audience are welcomed to come on the stage and join in the Choir in song. “That is a tradition that was going on before I showed up at LHS,” Dr Brown said. “[It] has been going on since the 1970s.”
“I get to sing it with my mom, with my dad, and anyone else that I know always comes up because they know it and they love it,” Junior Eva Thomas said. Thomas will be representing LHS in the All State Chorus next month.
The concert ended with one final Choir tradition, as the chorus came together to sing “Silent Night” by Franz Gruber. The lights dimmed as the singers went down into the aisles holding the candles from the beginning and creating a warm holiday atmosphere to round out the night.
“I think the community is really great,” Senior Lauren Podlogar said about choir. “It’s not a class I feel like I have to work super hard for or feel anxious over because there are people around to support me.”
“I tell the choirs that our number one job is to spread cheer. We want to make them feel better when they leave than when they got there. If we can do that, I think we have succeeded,” said Dr. Brown.
The LHS Choir Ensembles will perform again at their annual Cabaret concert on Feb. 19 and will be taking a tour in Sicily over spring break.
