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For their annual holiday celebration, Holidays at Hendricks, Hendricks Chapel looked to give a different kind of gift — music.

“This year we are trying to create a really wholesome experience for the audience, as well as the musicians,” said Morgan Beaton, a graduate teaching assistant of the Hendricks Chapel Choir as well as Setnor Sonority. “We want to present this as sort of a musical holiday gift to everyone.”

Hendricks Chapel strived to convey a sense of hope during this year’s production of Holidays at Hendricks, according to communications manager Dara Harper. The performance, which took place Sunday evening, was inspired by an array of religions and cultures to bring joy and commence this holiday season. The concert will also offer a virtual event, premiering Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.

The production consisted of over eight different choirs and orchestras, each one performing a different religious melody. It also included melodies from all over the world, honoring the uniqueness and importance of religious diversity this time of year.

“I think there’s a message of hope, a message of growing our connection strong with each other, and I think we all just enjoy being together,” Harper said.

José “Peppie” Calvar, the director of choral activities and Hendricks Chapel Choir, said the days leading up to this year’s performance were intense, especially since the opening and closing acts incorporate each individual choir and orchestra.

“It’s a massive undertaking, a huge collaboration, and I think that it is a prime example of the positive things that happen for our students and for our university when we collaborate,” Calvar said.

Calvar’s mission for Holiday at Hendricks is to bring the community together and carefully curate what he believes the holiday season should look like, a sense of joy, he said.

The University Symphony Orchestra, University Singers, The Hendricks Chapel Choir, Setnor Sonority, Crouse Chorale and the Morton Schiff Jazz Ensemble all performed at the event, along with student organists and University organist Anne Laver.
“I think that (the performing ensembles) represent the very best of what we have to offer artistically as a school of music, and they represent the very best of what we have to offer musically as a university,” Calvar said.

This year, Hendricks Chapel added numerous new details to Holidays at Hendricks, including a light show, Harper said. As the orchestra played and the choir sang, the inside of Hendricks glimmered with snowflakes and colored lights, bringing the holiday spirit to life.

But the moment the Chapel lights dim, Silent Night by Frank Sinatra plays and audience members hold up a candle is an immortalized experience, Calvar said.

“Years and years from now when they think back on their collegiate years and they remember that moment when the lights went down and the candles got lit and they sang that song, all those candles in the room were up in the air, that’s a moment that people remember forever,” Calvar said.

Published on December 5, 2022 at 1:34 am