Grand and Petit Choeur and Symphonie de Sion performed at the annual Christmas Concert Dec. 11 in the gym.

“I thought the girls did a wonderful job. We didn’t have any little bobbles,” Mulkey said. “Usually there’s something, but nothing major happened.”

Led by Music Director Elizabeth Mulkey, Grand Choeur sang renditions of “Silent Night” in French, German and English for the 200th anniversary of the song. Originating in Austria, “Silent Night was written by Joseph Mohr, a priest from Salzburg, and Franz Xaver Gruber, a teacher from upper Austria, added the melody. Mulkey decided to add both French and German along with the English because people across the world are celebrating the anniversary and wanted the choirs to participate in it.

“A lot of the girls in Grand Choeur speak French or are in higher level French classes, so that wasn’t too hard [for them to learn],” Mulkey said. “German was harder to learn for most of them because most of them don’t speak German and have never done that. They did really well.”

Along with, “The Yonge Child”, “As Dew in Aprille”, “This Little Babe”, “Deo Gracias” and “Recession”, Grand Choeur also sang “A Ceremony of Carols” by Benjamin Britten which has multiple movements within the piece. Each movement tells a different story.  “A Ceremony of Carols” is a longer song but it has many different parts that make up the piece and it all flows together to make one song. All the songs in this piece explained the birth of Jesus.

“I liked doing ‘A Ceremony of Carols” because we have never done anything with multiple movements in one piece,” junior Avery Kuhls said. “It gave us experience and it was advanced so it challenged us.”

Petit Choeur sang Christmas carols including “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” arranged by Earlene Rentz, “Our Winter Wonderland” arranged by Audrey Snyder, “Winter’s Cold” by Michael John Trotta and “Do You Hear What I Hear?” arranged by Harry Simeone. The crowd got to sing along during some classic Christmas carols sung by both choirs.

When signing “Silent Night”, Grand Choeur had candles illuminating their faces and then gave the candles to the audience to add to the experience. There were three duets including “Balulalow” sung by sophomore Emma Aguayo and senior Jordan Harrison, “In Freezing Winter Night” sung by Kuhls and senior Tess Prusa, and “Spring Carol” sung by juniors Cara Hiatt and Peyton Wade.

“I was super nervous before singing [our duet]; I was shaking I was so nervous. But, by the time I opened my mouth and started singing, my confidence shot way up,” Hiatt said. “I was worried I couldn’t hold certain notes for the full duration but afterward, I was so happy and proud of Peyton and I and the work we put into it.”

Also performing were sophomores Sharon Kramshuster and Pritika Manna, junior Ceresa Munjak-Khoury and senior Sarah White in the Symphonie de Sion who accompanied pianist, Leslie Pollock for the music.

“The orchestra girls didn’t even have the class this semester,” Mulkey said. “So they met with me during study hall. Everyone did a great job.”