The holiday season is a special time at Wilmington Friends. There are many holiday traditions at the school, but one that resonates with everyone are the Upper School Winter concerts. The different concerts are put on by the Upper School Chorale and Band. Chorale and Band are some of the most popular extracurricular programs at the school. The holiday concert has been a long-standing tradition at Friends. Every year, the concerts are a wonderful way for students to showcase their talent and hard-working practice.

The Upper School holiday Chorale concert is directed by Margaret Anne Butterfield. This year the concert’s overarching theme is peace. “It was decided this past summer. It seemed appropriate; peace is one of our ‘Spices’ at Friends,” explained Butterfield. The Upper School Chorale program contains of two different choirs: The Chamber Singers, a selective group of sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are dedicated to singing and wish to excel in performing arts, and the Chorale, including any student who wishes to be in choir. The different choirs will be singing pieces relating to the holiday season. This year they will sing arrangements of traditional Christmas carols such as “Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer” and “Holly Jolly Christmas,” as well as songs from other cultures, which promote the Quaker value of equality. This holiday season, they will be working with songs in traditional Hebrew and Swahili. Each winter concert at Friends incorporates compositions from a variety of holiday celebrations so each culture can be equally represented.

The other concert taking place this season is the winter Band concert. Involving the Upper School Jazz and Symphonic bands, the concert will be jam-packed with excitement. The Jazz Band, much like the Chamber Singers, are a group of students who are passionate about playing music and who already exceed expectations in the band room. Christopher Verry, who has taught at the school for fourteen years, has been working diligently with the two bands. The Jazz Band has been intensely practicing their songs. “They are very challenging. I enjoy the class a lot, though,” expressed Connor Nisbet ’19.  This year, the Symphonic Band will be playing a rendition of “Happy X-Mas (War is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, along with other ‘familiar’ holiday songs. Verry believes that the bands should not only play holiday themed songs for the concert. That being said, he is also having the jazz band play the song ‘Africa’ by Toto.

The performing arts program at Friends is unique. There is an annual winter choral concert for all of the students in the Lower School that is mandatory to participate in. The option to be in a separate choir or band program is first offered in the fourth grade. With all of the different band and choir groups, the two that stand out are the Upper School Jazz Band and Chamber singers, both being groups that have defined performing arts at Friends. Both bands have been practicing vigorously on their difficult songs. “They’re interesting, thought-provoking, and fun,” said Chamber Singer Miranda Peak ’19 when asked about her opinion on the songs that the chamber singers will be singing.

Winter is an exceptional time at Friends. The bands and choirs have been working hard so that they can succeed in performing well. The ensembles will have nothing but success this year due to Verry and Butterfield’s tremendous amount of work in preparing their students for this year’s concert. The Band concert will take place on December 6th at 7:00 pm and the Chorale concert will be on December 7th at 7:30 pm. With an eclectic choice of numbers, these holiday concerts will be for the books.