The Shadow
On the 7th at 7 —or rather, Thursday, December 7th at 7:00 p.m.— the Alleghany High School Choirs will be having a very special “Holiday Concert” for parents, friends, family, and students to enjoy. The concert will be held in the Alleghany High School auditorium and will feature the AHS Concert Choir, Treble Choir, Barbershop Quartet, and Beauty Shop Quartet.
The free-admission concert will feature songs such as “The Sleigh,” “Dinner Bell Carol,” “My Favorite Things,” “Song for a Winter’s Night,” “Carol of the Bells,” and “Hallelujah Chorus” featuring AHS Concert Choir alumni, among others. During one of their rehearsals, we were able to speak to a few members of the choir to find out which songs they were most looking forward to singing. Senior Samuel Brookman is excited for the addition of “Holiday Road,” as it offers the opportunity for him to perfectly bookend his choir experience. “…it’s a sense of nostalgia because I did it my freshman year as well and the fact that we get to do it this year is awesome… It’s a fun song.”
Sophomore Esperanza Mireles is excited to sing, “Joy to the World,” a song she remembers fondly from her youth. “…I used to sing it a lot as a child. Just singing that song and growing up with it really brings back a lot of memories from my childhood.”
Ariel Mckoy is most looking forward to performing “Dinner Bell Carol,” a parody of “Carol of the Bells.” “It’s just really fun to sing, to be honest,” Mckoy stated with a smile. “It has something to it.”
“My favorite part of the ‘Holiday Concert’ is the fact that we have alumni that come back to join us for the ‘Hallelujah Chorus,’ Choir Director Amanda Sprouse stated. “I just love to see all the faces and now, this is my 18th one, it’s quite a few that get to make it back.”
The choir also talked about the integration of the Alleghany and Covington High School choirs. Rebecca Short attended CHS last year and remarked on the size difference of last year’s choir versus this year’s. “It’s bigger than what I heard it was last year… It’s fun to have people that have the same interests as you and you get to meet all these new people.”
Senior Riley Cole Puffenbarger added, “I’m looking forward to this Christmas concert because there is music, it’s by far my favorite of the past few years and to be honest, with these new members, I’m kinda looking forward to how the generation’s gonna be.” In addition to the new members in Concert Choir, there were also new additions to the Treble Choir, including 3 baritones: Nick Anderson, AJ Loan, and Samuel Brookman. As such, some of their songs are arranged in Soprano Alto Baritone (SAB).
Things seem to be going smoothly for the AHS Choirs as they gear up for the upcoming “Holiday Concert.” The Barbershop Quartet, made up of Samuel Brookman, Kenny Sprouse, Isaiah Thomas, and Riley Puffenbarger, will be performing “A Yuletide Sea Shanty” and the Beauty Shop Quartet, made up of Alla Hicks, Allie Sloan, Esperanza Mireles, and Megan Powell, will sing “Making Christmas” from “A Nightmare Before Christmas.”
The choirs have all put in a lot of hard work in preparation for this year’s holiday concert and hope the community will come out to support them. Again, this is a free concert and will be held at Alleghany High School in the auditorium on Thursday, December 7th, at 7:00 p.m. Come out and enjoy songs of old and new while offering encouragement to this amazing group of young performers! Hope to see you there.
There are also other Christmas concerts going on in the area which will be performed by our youth, including Jeter-Watson’s Holiday Program on December 5th at 7:00 p.m., Covington Middle School’s Choir Concert on December 12th at 7:00 p.m., Mountain View Elementary’s Holiday Program on December 14th at 6:30 p.m., and the AHS Band Concert on December 19th at 7:00 p.m. All programs will be held at their respective schools. The AHS Concert Choir are also special guest performers at this year’s Mountain Opry presents: A Hometown Christmas which is being held on December 8th at 7:00 p.m.
