Singers and instrumentalists in the Marlborough community continued a longstanding tradition by performing in the annual Winter Choral Concert on Dec. 11th. The production featured music from Chamber Choir, the highly selective student choral group, and from Concert choir, the Marlborough Community choir, a group of musical parents, teachers, and staff, and 21st Century Ensemble, a group of 15 singers and instrumentalists who form a Marlborough band.
In order to prepare for the concert, the participants began practice a month in advance. Although most of the performance’s structure, set design, and a few songs stay the same, music instructor and music director Ernie Scarbrough hopes that the concert will continue to improve every year. In order to get into the holiday spirit, Caswell was decorated with Christmas trees and there were balls of lights hanging from the ceiling. The colors of the decorations were blue and white, which fit in well with winter and set a calm mood to ease people into break after the end of the semester.
“It’s always a very nice time. People are just ready to be done with the semester.” Scarbrough said.
The musicians mostly performed Christmas songs such as, Carol of the Bells and This Christmastide. They also performed winter songs such as, White Winter Hymnal. There was also a wide range of songs performed by soloists such as, A-Team, Back to Georgia, and Someone to Watch Over Me.
Talia ’16 has been in concert choir and is now a member of chamber choir.This was also Talia’s first year singing apart from her regular class group because she sang the song A- Team in a trio.
“I was really proud of myself because I faced my fear of singing outside of Chamber Choir,” Talia said.
She also mentioned how it felt strange being a senior and knowing that she would never perform on the Winter Choral Concert stage again.
Shira ‘18, Talia’s younger sister, has been coming to the choral concert since she was in 4th grade to support her family. Both her older sisters and her dad have sung in the show. Her favorite part has always been the tradition at the end when old members of the chamber choir come up from the audience to sing Christmas Time with everyone. This year, Shira said that the solos were especially good.
Maya, the daughter of one of Marlborough’s Math teachers, Mr. Frank, has been coming to the concert for a few years, and this year it fell on her birthday. She was looking forward to hearing all of the girls sing and recorded the performance. Frank said the show was a great birthday present.
