Home for Christmas in the A&A

1/8/2015

Montrose families, friends and alumnae enjoy the first Christmas concert on the Medfield campus.

Over 500 Montrose students, family members, alumnae and friends packed the new Arts & Athletics Center for the Montrose School Christmas Concert, the first to be held on the Montrose home campus.

The Middle School Chorus opened the show with four carols, including a spirited Deck the Hall sung by the 8th grade. Middle School Tone Chimers Julia Convery ‘19, Hannah Fay ‘19, Sarah Ling ‘20 and Weslee Zinsner ‘20 followed with their rendition of Good King Wenceslas.

The Upper School Chorus performed the lovely Jesu, Thou the Virgin-born, featuring Shubo Yan ‘15, Emma Frank ‘16, Molly Cahill ‘16 and Megan Bellavance ‘16 as soloists. They finished with a lively Winter’s Wonderland Medley of popular Christmas songs. The Upper School Handbell Choir followed, in which the girls, joined by alumnae Kate Fitzgerald ‘10 and Nicole Hofer ‘09 as well as several faculty members, rang out All Glory in the Highest!

Montrose School’s a cappella group, the Treblemakers, performed A Christmas Medley complete with choreography, in the final Christmas Concert for senior Treblemakers Sarah Baker ‘15, Maddie Crump ‘15, Madeline Reilly ‘15, Kaitlyn Sennott ‘15 and Shubo Yan ‘15. They were followed by a new Montrose tradition: Mrs. Holly Sullivan invited all alumnae who sang in a Montrose choral or a cappella group to join the Upper School Chorus and Treblemakers on stage. Together, they celebrated the occasion of performing in the new A&A as they sang I’ll Be Home for Christmas.

Nathalie Falcao ‘17 reviewed the concert for The Looking Glass:

The Middle School Chorus in their black skirts and white shirts sang their hearts out onstage. The middle school students were the first ones to use the A&A with their performance of Annie Jr., so they rightfully opened the first Christmas Concert in the A&A.

The Upper School Chorus was directed by a new face this year, Ms. Michelle French. She did a great job for her first year at Montrose, so be sure to congratulate her if you see her in the hallways. The songs were executed with the perfection that seems to characterize Montrosians.

There was a new twist on the Upper School Handbells: the addition of faculty to the performance. There were “more notes than people, and in order to enrich the listening experience for the audience we got the faculty involved,” said Elizabeth Prabakaran ’17, who is in her second year of Handbells and Chorus. It was angelic! The synchronization was on point, and it was evident that all the performers had practiced a lot and enjoyed performing.

In addition to the singing was the most awaited part of the show for the little ones: the arrival of Santa Claus. My five-year-old sister Alina lit up at the sound of the bells and exclaimed, “hey, look, it’s Santa, mommy, it’s Santa!” — over and over until he and his elf went up to the stage. It’s a nice little twist on Christmas Concerts that Montrose does every year to please the younger children.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the annual Montrose Christmas Concert. I hope to hear many more wonderful performances, starting with the Spring Concert in the new year!

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