CdM Vocal Music Winter Concert: What’s a Holiday without You?

Each year, Corona del Mar’s vocal music department puts on a festive holiday concert. It showcases what the choirs have worked on so far in the year and also giving people a kickstart to their holiday season. This year’s theme was “What’s a Holiday without You?” and featured different choir member’s family traditions as well as cultures.

The show was opened with everyone in the vocal music department singing the classic “I’ll be Home for Christmas”. From there, the audience was taken on a journey of laughs, appreciation, and learning as they watched group after group go on and put forth all of their energy. The new advanced men’s ensemble, Profundo, especially hooked the audience when they sang a fun holiday mashup, with some of the songs included being “Africa” by Toto and “12 days of Christmas” by Straight No Chaser. Another favorite piece performed during the concerts was “Stille Nacht” by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber. This was because of its amazing execution by CdM’s Madrigals singers as well the important message conveyed.

On top of the choirs singing, there were also one to two solo acts in between each ensemble. These acts were either a student sharing what they love about the holidays or their family traditions, or their talents outside of singing with their ensemble such as dancing. One example was Maren Eastmond’s presentation of her family’s Hanukkah traditions. She explained how when they light the menorah, they catch the candles’ wax on a Coca-cola bottle, and have been doing this for many years, adding to the bottle each time the holiday comes around.

The Winter Concert is one of the most special concerts of the year to both those inside and out of the choral music department. It has a great sense of family, as the members of the department get to know each other. A highlight of the night was when Vox Angelica, Profundo, and Madrigals all came together to sing “I’ll be on my Way” which is a self-empowering song about overcoming obstacles. The strength and passion with which the song was performed with, gave chills to both those who watched and those to sang. This years winter concert will be a lasting memory for many.