Each year, LT’s Orchestra and Choir come together, and more recently, the percussion ensemble has joined them, to put on a yearly concert that focuses on the holiday season.

It is an LT tradition, where the whole choir is involved but focuses on the Choir’s upperclassmen. Choir combines with a specific Sinfonietta orchestra, an audition-only orchestra that is reserved for juniors and seniors, along with the rest of the orchestra, orchestra member Lucy Schonecker ‘26 said. The Sinfonietta Orchestra and Choir perform together for multiple pieces, as well as having their own songs for each group. 

“I think this concert is a great representation of the dedication that music students at LT have and how practice and hard work produce a great product,” Lucy Schonecker said. “It is an enjoyable concert, and it is even more fun to have both programs working together.” 

Schonecker has been in the orchestra since her freshman year, and this will be her second year participating in this concert. They usually rehearse for the concert every day during the week in their class time and also have a dress rehearsal right before the concert during school, Schonecker said. It is difficult for the orchestra to practice without the choir because the choir’s voices are much louder than the orchestra’s string instruments. Most rehearsals are with both music departments. 

“Both departments have to put in a lot of work to get each part to blend together, on top of practising other pieces, which are played independently,” Schonecker said. 

Traditionally, the choir performs five to six songs, Choir member Cassidy Selig ‘26 said. One of the songs is performed by Soprano and Alto, one performed by Tenor and Bass, two pieces with the whole choir, one with just the Varsity Choir, and the Hallelujah Chorus, which is combined with the orchestra. 

“It is by far one of my favorite concerts; there is so much holiday cheer, and it’s nice to get to work with the [SC] students that we don’t always work with,” Selig said. “This concert is one that many people in our community know about and choose to attend just because of the holiday spirit and joy it brings.”

Selig has been involved with the concert and Choir all four years of high school. On the day of the concert, the different sections of the choir also do many bonding activities and work on songs together, said Selig. This day is the only day of rehearsal with the whole choir and orchestra from both campuses get to practice together right before the concert. However, sometimes the Varsity Choir will work with Sinfonietta during their class to polish a couple of conducting techniques to get a feel for it. 

“The whole day tends to be kind of stressful, but we make the best out of it,” Selig said. “As the Secretary on Choir Board, the board plans many activities to keep the spirits and positivity high.” 

 One of the main activities they do is Choir Buddies, where a Choir upperclassman pairs up with a lowerclassman, and reach out and get to know each other over Thanksgiving break. Choir Buddies is followed by a lunch where the paired upper and lower classmates meet up, eat lunch, and exchange mini Christmas gifts with each other.

“It’s such a fun way to combine both campuses and show how we are one big Choir family,” Selig said. 

Choir director David Hartley is one of the main Choir directors, along with John Musik, for the Fanfares and Carols concert. Hartley has been a part of the concert since he first came to LT in 2010. In recent years, the concert has added student-written poetry readings, said Hartley. One of the concert’s traditions is to perform the Hallelujah Chorus from George Friedrich Handel’s “Messiah” as the closing song. This song is performed every year and invites alumni and family members of the singers to come on stage to perform with them. 

“It’s wonderful to see so many alumni return to take part in this tradition,” Hartley said. “We believe strongly that music has the power to bring people together and to establish and strengthen community bonds.”   

The concert is on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at NC in the Reber Center.