The Middle School and High School Choirs each performed a beautiful concert on two different Wednesdays in January. The theme of both concerts was the same: Winter Wonderland. The original Winter Choir Concert was scheduled for December 9, 2021. But, as you can imagine, the four weeks of distance learning made it very difficult to master all of the concert pieces. Once we returned to face-to-face learning on December 6, we worked hard to master the concert selections as quickly as possible. The students were able to perform a beautiful concert, and they even memorized all the music!
Because of our current COVID-19 policies, we had to limit our audience seating. Thankfully, we were able to live-stream the concert so that all the performers’ families and friends could enjoy the concert from home. In both concerts, some of the choir students took turns introducing the songs in both English and Chinese.
On the night of January 12, with a fresh snowfall outside and shiny paper snowflakes sparkling in the stage-lights, the middle school choir classes took the stage. Each of the three classes was featured on their one piece. The A3 class sang “Huron Carol,” a beautiful Huron Indian carol from French Canada. The B3 class sang “Winter Canon,” a partner song combining “In the Bleak Mid-Winter” and a canon by Thomas Tallis. The A4 class sang “Do You Hear What I Hear.” This song was composed in the 1970’s and tells the Christmas story while highlighting themes of peace.
Next the Middle School Girls Honor Choir sang two songs about December. With only six girls in this choir and one of them was not able to come, Mrs. Gifford joined the girls in singing. Then, the Middle School Boys Honor Choir joined them onstage, along with Dr. Gifford, to sing a fun and jazzy arrangement of “This Little Light of Mine.” The Middle School Honor Choir is an ASA group of selected singers who will (hopefully) travel to Shanghai in March to participate in the All-China Honor Choir Festival.
The Middle School Concert concluded with three fun pieces from different countries: Africa, USA, and Puerto Rico. The students performed with energy, expression, confidence, and poise. The highlight was a song from the original “Frozen” movie, a song called “Do You Want to Build a Snowman.” The students also performed “Count on Me,” a Bruno Mars song, as an encore. It was a fun and entertaining evening.
Please watch the whole concert video if you missed it.
Click here to see more pictures.
The High School Choirs took the stage on the frigid night of January 19th. This concert featured the two large high school choir classes performing in various combinations. The Men’s Choir opened the concert with “The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.” The Women’s Choir performed a cool Spanish carol called “Riu, Riu, Chiu.” Next, two of our seniors, Yuki Piao and Amy Jiang, performed “Let it Snow!”
Next, each of the two choirs performed one piece on their own. The A1 class performed a well-known Christmas carol “Silent Night” in three languages. They sang in the original language (German) and also in English. The students also performed American Sign Language while they sang. The last verse, all the music dropped out and the students “sang” the song with sign language accompanied only by silence. It was very moving! The B4 class sang a hauntingly beautiful four-part song called “Lully, Lulla, Lullay.” Their song was a cappella (no accompaniment, just voices).
Before the combined choir came out for the finale, there was a solo by David Zhang, and a duet by Kanon Sugimoto and Sophia Lin. The combined choir sang a silly song about Christmas sweaters before finishing the evening with the famous song “Winter Wonderland.” It was definitely a night to remember!
Please watch the whole concert video here.
Click the link to see more pictures.
