As students around the district prepare to take the stage for various holiday and winter-related fine arts events, Emily Bohl’s chorus students from Goose Creek High are preparing for such a performance at a well-known stage in downtown Charleston.
Goose Creek High’s Chamber Choir will perform in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Pops concerts. The annual event will run Dec. 18-20 in the Performance Hall at the Gaillard Center in Charleston.
Yuriy Bekker is the Artistic Director and Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and also conducts the Holiday Pops series. Bekker and Bohl have been acquainted through various musical avenues over time.
Bekker contacted Bohl before the previous school year was over to extend the invitation for her chorus students to participate. Bohl said the Charleston Symphony Orchestra enjoys getting a high school choral program to participate in the program, so she was eager to jump on the opportunity.
“It’s a big production at the Gaillard Center…it’s four performances, and they sell out most years, so it’s a big deal,” she said.
Bohl’s students will perform alongside the Charleston Symphony Chorus and the Orchestra. Attendees will enjoy a blend of traditional holiday music and classical favorites such as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “O Holy Night.” The event will also feature Broadway performer and Nashville recording artist Rachel Potter.
After Goose Creek High’s Chamber Choir committed to the event, Bekker contact Bohl again to ask about getting a student who could be a featured solo. That opportunity subsequently went to Jada Brown, a senior soprano who is a Berkeley Center for the Arts voice major, following a successful audition process.
Brown’s solo is part of a piece called “A World of Joy” by Gary Fry. Brown’s part kicks off the song and lasts more than a minute. The song contains Christmas text about unity and coming together in multiple languages.
“I’m quite nervous, but I’m also very grateful to have this opportunity,” Brown said. “It’s a beautiful piece.”
Bohl’s Chamber Choir is comprised of 27 students, primarily upperclassmen, and all of them had to audition to be in the group. They are actively working on eight songs in preparation for the Holiday Pops concerts.
However, that is not all the group is working on; Bohl joked that her students are pretty booked this holiday season with performances. The Chamber Choir is preparing for their upcoming concert, called This Endris Night, Dec. 11 at the school, and then the very next day they have rehearsal downtown with the King’s Counterpoint, a Charleston-based vocal ensemble that specializes in the performance of sacred and secular music from the Middle Ages through the modern era. Bohl’s students will perform with the King’s Counterpoint on Dec. 14 at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist as part of that group’s Christmas program.
Then they jump head first into the Charleston Symphony Orchestra for the Holiday Pops concerts. When all this is done, they will have sung about 20 pieces of music in the span of seven days.
“They’re learning a lot right now, but they always rise to the occasion,” Bohl said. “I think our kids are really motivated to do well and represent our school well.”
Brown has been one of Bohl’s students since her freshman year and can attest that this time of year is stressful, but it is also a lot of fun.
“You have to think on the bright side of things because, yes, it’s jammed-packed with a bunch of stuff…but all you really can do is just be grateful that we were blessed with this gift to sing, and to have fun,” she said.
Bohl said she always wants to show her students that such big opportunities can be worth the stress and hard work, adding that juggling multiple tasks – and doing them well – is a skill her students will need in college and beyond.
Brown herself is planning to go to Winthrop University next year and study elementary education with a minor in vocal performance. She just learned she got accepted into Winthrop’s Honors College.
Brown said she hopes participating with these adult performers will boost her confidence and self-growth.
“Having the opportunity to do this is definitely going to get me out of my shell – which is good, I think,” she said.
In addition to building confidence and growing professionally, Bohl said she wants her students to keep using their artistic talent beyond high school – even if just for themselves.
“Musically, I want them to know that they should keep singing, and that people do keep singing into adulthood,” she said. “I just hope they keep singing. It’s so good for you – mentally, emotionally and physically.”
Interested in attending one of the Holiday Pops concerts? Tickets are selling fast – get them here.
