When I found out the date for the holiday choir concert, I was beyond excited.

I love choir concerts. I love the atmosphere, seeing dedicated family members and friends there to support their choir member, and, most of all, seeing all the hard work the choirs have been doing pay off.

The concert took place Thursday, Dec. 10.

I showed up a little early and had a “fun” time finding a place to park. A lot of people came to this concert.

As soon as I got in, the concert began.

The Men’s Chorus opened the event with “Wake O Shepherds,” by J. Philippe Rameau, a Christmas song that I thought was a good way to start the concert.

The next song was “Noel Nouvelet,” a French carol arranged by Sonja Poorman.

I liked the song, mainly because I like the fact that French words were in it. (I have been taking French for five years).

The concert took an upbeat turn when the chorus performed Donald Moore’s arrangement of “The Shepherd’s Spiritual.”

Next up was “‘Tis the Season Once Again,” arranged by Tom Anderson. This song, a medley of the Christmas hits “Here We Come A-Caroling,” “O Christmas Tree,” and “Deck the Halls,” was my favorite performance by the Men’s Chorus.

I loved it. The whole song flowed nicely.

Sophomore Jay Burge leading the choir into the song was a great touch.

Junior Cami Clarambeau took the stage next and performed the traditional Christmas carol “O Come All Ye Faithful.”

She smiled the whole time — one thing I enjoyed about the song — and her voice had a lovely sound to it. Clarembeau also did a great job singing in a foreign language, as well as in English.

The Women’s Chorus was next, starting with Joyce Eilers’ “Tiny King.”

The performance was a little quiet, maybe because it was the first song and the choir had to get into the concert spirit. But, nonetheless, it still sounded good.

The chorus then performed “Harmony” by Theresa Jennings. This song had a beautiful sound to it.

The choir really got into the spirit of Christmas with the next song, “The Snow Carol (Still, Still, Still)” arranged by Audrey Snyder.

It was during this song that I realized how hard the choir students had been working to make this concert as perfect as can be. It was evident in the faces of the singers how much they wanted to perform well, and they sure did.

My favorite song performed by the chorus, Anita Kerr’s arrangement of “We Need a Little Christmas,” was the Women’s Chorus’ last song.

“We Need a Little Christmas” is one of my favorite holiday songs, and it was great hearing the choir sing it.

After that, seniors Kaylen Lumley and Christen Seidor took the stage for a wonderful duet of “Winter Wonderland,” arranged by Clay Warnick.

The two sounded lovely together. Their voices complemented each other well, making the song one of my favorite performances of the night.

The after-school Melody Makers performed next, opening with Alfred Burt’s “Caroling, Caroling.” It was a nice introductory song and the choir sang loudly.

The choir then performed “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” composed by Peter Tchaikovsky but arranged by Jeff Funk.

I was excited for this performance because I love that song, and I knew the Melody Makers would do a great job with it.

The A Capella singing was beautiful and reminded me of the music group Pentatonix’s performance of the song, which is a compliment.

After that was Keith Christopher’s arrangement of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.”

In this performance, the song was upbeat and many of the choir members were smiling — a sign that it was a favorite among them.

The show took a darker turn with Russell Mauldin’s arrangement of “Mary, Did You Know?”

The song invoked a deep, heavy feeling in me. There was a lot of emotion there.

I liked how the song got lighter in the interlude, when everything got louder.

Zack Broughton, senior, took the stage next, singing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” arranged by Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, and Buck Ram.

Broughton told me earlier that day that his throat hurt, so he did not think he would perform well.

But his performance was great. He smiled the whole time, showing no nerves, and had an enthusiasm I like to see.

As Broughton exited the stage, the A Capella Choir entered with “Ding Dong! Merilly on High,” arranged by Howard Cable. I thought the song was performed too quietly.

The choir got louder and prouder with the next song, however, when they sang Alice Parker and Robert Shaw’s arrangement of “Bring A Torch, Jeannette Isabella.”

The song had a nice sound to it and I liked seeing the smiles on the singers’ faces.

“Carol of the Bells,” arranged by Peter J. Wilhousky was then performed.

This was my favorite song the A Capella Choir sang. It was loud, melodious, and everyone swayed to the beat.

Afterward, the choir sang “Christmas Time is Here,” arranged by Ed Lojeski.

One thing I particularly liked about it was how the females would sing and the males would follow, creating an echo.

The next performance was the one I was most looking forward to.

Mrs. Renee Kotzian, choir director, stopped the concert and asked for KHS choir alumni to join the A Capella Choir for the last song, Hawley Ades’ arrangement of “Sleigh Ride.”

I love events where the alumni return to aid their place-takers. I especially loved seeing the faces of the alumni as they were singing. They looked happy being back on stage.

I smiled throughout the entire performance, which sounded wonderful.

“Sleigh Ride” was most definitely my favorite song of the night.

After that, the concert concluded with the A Capella Choir singing the traditional “Irish Blessing” (Linda Spevecek).

One thing I noticed that made this time different than in previous concerts was how pumped up the choir was. The singers definitely had some energy left in them from “Sleigh Ride,” which I thought made the blessing sound even better.

All in all, I enjoyed the holiday choir concert.

It got me into the Christmas spirit, and I am excited to see what the choirs have in store for the next one.