Joy to the world, Tudors season is here.
Every November and December, the Darien High School Tudor Singers are flooded with performance requests from all over Fairfield County. From bigger, out-of-town venues like the Palace Theatre in Stamford to smaller local ones like First Congregational Church in Darien, the Tudor Singers sing classic carols as well as some more modern holiday pieces. Not only does the choir have to prepare for a bucket-load of outside gigs during the holiday season, but they also have to prepare for their annual holiday concert in the DHS auditorium. This year, they spent weeks preparing for a concert where all DHS musical ensembles were featured. The “Holiday Spectrum” concert—now known as the “Holiday Spectacular Concert”—used to be an annual tradition but was stopped once the pandemic hit. This year, the DHS Music Department brought the concert back on December 19th.
The Tudor Singers performed at many incredible gigs this season. Those events included the Post 53 Holiday Shopping Fundraiser at Nielsen’s Florist on November 11th, the Tree Lighting at Darien Sport Shop on November 26th, an event at Tilley Pond Park on December 9th, Palace Theatre’s “Songs of the Season” on December 10th, a Holiday Party for Person-to-Person Darien on December 13th, and a performance at First Congregational Church on December 17th.
Tudor Singers also often gets last-minute requests to perform at events in the area. Choral Director Mr. Andrade, fondly known as Mr. A, occasionally has to turn down requests due to the group’s already busy schedule, but with the large supply of singers in this year’s ensemble, those last-minute requests were often able to be accommodated.
As mentioned before, the group spent weeks preparing for the “Holiday Spectacular Concert,” which featured DHS Band, Chorus, Orchestra, Pop Strings, and Jazz, and even had special guests, Viva Voce—a choir made up entirely of 6th graders from Middlesex Middle School. This concert brought together all ensembles in a beautiful way. The opening and closing of the show were combined numbers, with Band members, Orchestra members, and Choir members all performing together. The whole show was a smashing success, and all of the hard work the performers had been putting into practicing really showed.
And now, I’d like to explain a little about the actual Tudor Singers ensemble. Tudor Singers is the audition-based elite choral ensemble at DHS. Tudor Singers sing high-level repertoire, learn about music theory, and develop sight-reading skills. Having the prestigious honor of being a “Tudor Singer” comes with attending weekly rehearsals outside of school time and doing frequent outside gigs throughout the year.
I spoke with a couple of members of the Tudor Singers ensemble to hear their thoughts on being in the group during the holiday season.
When I asked the President of the Tudor Singers, Senior Kendall O’Hoppe, what her favorite thing about being a Tudor Singer during the holiday season is, she said, “I love giving back to the community and spreading Christmas Spirit.” As I mentioned earlier, the Tudor Singers perform in many outside gigs throughout November and December. When asked what her favorite gig to perform in is, O’Hoppe said, “My favorite gig to do is the First Congregational Church because we are able to interact with the audience and can see the joy they have watching us.”
I also spoke with Senior Elizabeth Gonnella, the Vice President of Tudors. Again, I asked what her favorite thing about being a Tudor Singer during the holiday season is, and Gonnella replied, “My favorite thing about being a Tudor Singer during the holiday season is that we get to share the songs we’ve been working on with the Darien community through our holiday gigs. We sing at all types of different events, meaning we can spread our music to people who might not always have the ability to come to our regular concerts.” She also said the following about her favorite gig: “My favorite gig to do during the holiday season is the Palace Concert, because it’s really cool to sing in a professional theatre. I also enjoy watching the middle school students in Camerata perform, because we were once their age and it’s always exciting to see how far we’ve come now that we’re in high school.”
Finally, I spoke with Junior Nico Johnston, who is the Tenor Section Leader. Just as I asked O’Hoppe and Gonnella, I asked Johnston what his favorite holiday gig to perform in is, and he said, “I love them all but particularly the ones where I receive food or hot cocoa.”
It’s clear that the members of the Tudor Singers ensemble truly enjoy performing during the holiday season. Getting into Tudors is an honor and a privilege, and members of the ensemble do not take that for granted. All members are dedicated to the group and work their hardest to perfect their repertoire. But it’s also not all serious. Because of all the time they spend together, the group bonds quickly and has a lot of fun throughout the year.
Coming into high school, I selected “Concert Choir” as my 9th-grade elective. Though COVID made it hard to sing that year, Mr. A put so much effort into keeping the choral department alive and making us excited to learn new music. I auditioned for and was selected to become a Tudor Singer later that school year.
In my first year as a Tudor Singer—my sophomore year—I learned so much about the value of singing in a choir and about music in general. Tudors quickly became the highlight of my school day. One of my favorite parts about the ensemble was the amount of performances we were asked to do. Performing at so many events during the holiday season can be stressful, but it’s also extremely rewarding. We work so hard to learn our pieces, and the fact that we get to perform those pieces in front of so many different audiences makes all of that hard work worthwhile.
I’m sad that my last holiday season as a Tudor Singer has come to an end, but I will truly cherish all of the memories I have made with my fellow Tudors over the past three years. I’m happy to know that even once the seniors leave, the Tudor Singers will continue to leave their mark on Darien and Fairfield County as a whole with their holiday cheer.
