News Post
Madrigals and Chorus celebrate the holiday season with performances around D.C.
by Claire Driscoll '25 for the Wicket student newspaper
Visitation Madrigals and chorus are celebrating the spirit of the season with performances throughout D.C.
They kicked off Christmas in early November at Esprit de Noël. Chorus caroled to fair-goers Friday night in front of Fisher Athletic Center. They sang classic songs such as “Silent Night,” “My Grown-Up Christmas List,” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
Their second Christmas-focused performance was at the Fairmont Washington D.C., Georgetown. The hotel and the Visitation Madrigals have had a long-standing relationship going back 21 years. They performed at the annual Christmas tree lighting, with Mayor Muriel Bowser in attendance.
Visitation performing arts director Dr. Elizabeth Turner says, “I believe we’ve been there for almost 21 years now. Santa was there and they had some special guests. They had a lot of kids and a homemade gingerbread house. We definitely want to keep up with them in the future and hopefully perform with them in the spring.”
With so many songs to choose from, every singer has her own favorite carol. Senior Anna Driscoll, president of the chorus and head librarian of the Madrigals, loves “Grown-Up Christmas List.” She says, “The harmonies we used during the song are really good and you can show a lot of emotion with this song.”
At the Fairmont performance, the Madrigals performed an eclectic mix of carols and more modern takes on classic Christmas music.
Turner said, “Obviously the focus was Christmas, but we also wanted to bring some fun and spirit. We did a combination stylistically, so we are doing carols, some classics, and some hits.”
The unique combination included not only different genres, but also different languages. Turner said, “We were caroling at the Fairmont downtown to kick off the holiday season. We sang some of our favorite Christmas carols including ‘Jingle Bells’ and even ‘O Christmas Tree’ in German.”
Other performers like Elisabeth Frantz ‘27 also liked the song choices. She says, “I love performing during the holidays because I get really into the Christmas spirit while singing some of my favorite Christmas songs, and learning some new fun holiday songs! I think my favorite song to perform is ‘Once Upon a December.’ I grew up with movies like ‘Anastasia,’ and it’s such a pretty song to sing!”
The students in the clubs enjoy spreading so much holiday cheer. Driscoll says, “My favorite part of performing is making people happy. With these performances specifically, there are a lot of people enjoying the holidays, and a lot of children around who enjoy the holidays and like their favorite carols being sung for them.”
Driscoll has a lot of emotions tied to these performances. She says, “I feel a lot of excitement. I love the holidays and Christmas and so it’s always amazing to celebrate with other people and to sing a lot of fun Christmas songs. My favorite place to perform is usually the Fairmont. They always throw a great celebration with their Christmas tree lighting with a lot of amazing things.”