Choir cozies up for some Christmas carols: the home edition

By Gwendolyn Warren, Staff Writer

On Dec.18, the Samo choir program made history by presenting their first holiday carol concert, “Home for the Holidays.” This is the second time that the Samo choir program has streamed a concert. With COVID-19 being such an uncertain time for many, the heartfelt Christmas carols were a reminder of the wonderful traditions at Samo. 

Jeffe Huls, the choir director, hopes that the festive music will allow students and families to forget about the hardships of this year and celebrate the holidays. 

“This will be the kind of broadcast that you can put on in the background while you are relaxing with your family, preparing for dinner or sitting down with a libation and celebrating that your grades are done,” Huls said. 

Maxine Knystautas (’21), Chamber’s alto 1 section leader, explains how the concert was formatted for a Zoom call. 

“For Zoom concerts we put together video and audio recordings beforehand and then just play them for the audience at the set time. We have a couple of ensemble numbers, some that incorporate all choirs and some that are unique to one. There are also some solo pieces that people have submitted,” Knystautas said. 

At this time in previous years, the Samo chorus would be performing their formal winter concert, Motus Perpetuus. Karly Kato Bang (’21) is the alto section leader in Madrigals and recalls the memorable times at old winter concerts. 

“Last year we even sang a piece where we each flickered black lights all around the audience as a few performed a student-choreographed dance. We completely sold out Barnum. So many people wanted to come that our volunteers had to figure out ways to safely allow more people to attend. It was my favorite concert ever and, most likely, my last,” Kato Bang said.

At Samo, Madrigals and Chamber have always gone caroling during the winter season, so this concert is their way of continuing the tradition despite COVID-19. 

The hopes for returning back to school for performing arts are slim, but Principal Antonio Shelton explains the plans to hopefully return back next semester. 

“We are doing this thing called ‘plus’, which allows students to meet in person [at a certain time], which would possibly be shorter class periods. We would have a period that would give everybody an hour or hour and a half to do clubs, tutoring sessions or choir practice,” Shelton said.

The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop the choir program from performing their best for the audience on Zoom. “Home for the Holidays” was the perfect concert to watch while enjoying festive holiday music with family and friends.