On December 12th the concert choir, womens, and chamber choir performed their annual winter concert in the high school auditorium.

Choir director, Anna Lilikas, thought the concert went well, and each group had at least one piece that went “phenomenal”. “I thought ‘Ride the Chariot’ was super good, everyone had really good energy,” she said. The concert choir sang 5 songs : Ride the Chariot, You Will be Found, Mi Yitneni Of, He Watching Over Israel, and Encore.

Lillikas has been working with the choir for about three years. She teaches choir as well as music theory, and co – runs the women’s choir and chambers choir with Mr. Helder, who has been working with the choir for 14 years.

The concert choir is looking forward to singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen in the spring concert. The other songs have not been finalized yet.

Besides the concerts, the choir is planning to go on a trip to California for competition.

About ten other schools participate in this competition. In 2017, the choirs won all gold and first place. In 2018, women’s choir won gold and first place, while chambers and concert choir won high silver.

Every year the choir travels to compete. Every other year they alternate from a bus trip to a plane trip. This year, the trip is expected to cost about $1600 per person, so people are allowed to fund raise. There are a plethora of opportunities to raise money for those who are interested. The most popular fundraisers are: selling cookie dough, chocolate bars, and pies. Another major fundraiser is the coffee house, where all funds go to those who helped set it up, and performed. Some students take severe advantage of these opportunities and pay off the entire trip.

Over these next few months the choir will be working on technique. This means they will start practicing their songs for spring, while also finding the time to perfect their winter songs. The trip will be taking place in April from the 10th to the 14th. The (women’s, chamber and concert) choirs have a full schedule ahead of them on the trip. They plan to visit the beach, and a show. After this they will compete, go to Disney, and head back to the east coast.

All of the choirs are like one big family. The two teachers act as if they are the choirs parents and some even call them “mom” and “dad”. They are supportive of all the choirs and work hard to make sure they succeed in the competition. “I treat them like the are my own.  We are like a really big family,” Lillikas said.