The Brother Martin Chorus program presented its annual Christmas concert on Wednesday, May 7th at Transfiguration of the Lord Church. Chorus members and alumni began the concert with an antiphonal performance of “Gaudete,” a Christmas carol from the 16th century. Fifth period singers sang a varied program which included an a cappella round, “Angels We Have Heard on High,” the spiritual “Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet,” conducted by Mr. Chris Alley ’08, and an arrangement of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which was created by our students. This arrangement featured Jack Norwood, Roman Patton, Jacob Ragusa, Garic Solis, and Austin Vasquez.

Next, members of sixth period sang the traditional English “Sussex Carol.” Their program included carols, a setting of the Robert Frost poem “The Pasture,” the Stephen Foster folk song “Gentle Annie,” and a setting of the Sacred Harp hymn “The Morning Trumpet” featuring Kolbe Peters. Their program concluded with the rousing “Exsultate Justi in Domino.”

We are grateful for the alumni who joined us this year to participate in the concert. Alumni Chorus members sang the English carol “Gloucestershire Wassail” with Drew Haro ’03 as a soloist, and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” featuring current Chorus seniors Daniel Erdozain, Avery Gerosa, and Kolbe Peters as soloists.

To conclude the concert, current and alumni singers were joined by other alumni present in the singing of “O Sacred Heart.”