‘Tis the holiday season, a perfect time for Christmas trees, presents, and best of all— Christmas carols. During the evening of Thursday, December 13, Irvington’s choirs delivered a successful concert in Valhalla, with the theme being “Love is the Light of the World” just in time for the holiday season. The seven choirs: Concert Choir, Encore Choir, Treble Choir, Chamber Choir, Viking Jazz, All Men’s Choir, and Fesco Femme sang, danced and harmonized to countless Christmas songs. At the beginning, they occupied the darkened stage, holding battery operated candles to embody the theme and create a dazzling effect

Eager children, classmates, friends, parents, and relatives fully filled the seats of Valhalla while each choir took turns on stage to perform Christmas songs, such as “Mistletoe and Holly,” “Beati Omnes,” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

This was the first concert of the year, and the choirs had practiced countless hours to make sure the performance was the best it could be. Smiling, all the singers took the stage with confidence, and danced along with the music. The audience let a plethora of applause following each performance.

“The concert was very interesting because we finally got to sing and listen to other people [in the choirs] sing,” Patricia Cai (11), a member of Concert Choir said.

At the end of the concert, all the choirs went up to the stage and performed the finale song: “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” As a tradition, the choirs play this song and engage the audience to sing along. On the side of each row of the Valhalla theater were prepared numbers that correspond to each day of Christmas. As the choir sang the chorus, each row stood up to sing the corresponding day of Christmas for the row they are seated on. The row for the fifth day of Christmas sang the loudest, with almost every single person standing up. Humorously, according choir member Natalie See, last year, row five brought hula hoops and rose them up while singing “five golden rings.”

“It was fun hearing the songs from all the different choirs. I enjoyed doing the 12 days of Christmas because it was fun to see everyone sing along,” Natalie See (12), a member of the Treble and Fesco Femme Choirs, said.

Although the next concert is not until April, this gives the choir plenty of time to practice for another successful concert!