On Dec. 9, nearly 300 Harker students in grades 4-12 performed at holiday assemblies on all three campuses. Each campus’ show had its own orchestra in the opening slot, followed by dance and vocal groups from all across Harker’s expansive performing arts program. Louis Hoffman directed the lower school orchestra, with Dave Hart directing the orchestra at the middle school performance and Chris Florio at the helm of the upper school orchestra’s performance at the Saratoga campus. In between acts, students performed amusing skits to introduce the next performer.
The Bucknall Choir, directed by Jennifer Cowgill, sang “The 12 Days of Christmas” and “5 Minutes,” and was followed by Showstoppers, the middle school female dance ensemble directed by Rachelle Ellis, who performed an upbeat routine to the holiday classic “Jingle Bells.” Next, Cowgill’s upper school vocal group Bel Canto performed a rendition of “Sing We Fa La La,” and the upper school female vocal group Cantilena, directed by Susan Nace, sang “Carol of the Bells” and the Hebrew song “Shel Shoshanim.”
Other great vocal performances were provided by upper school chamber choir Camerata’s rendition of “Allons,” also directed by Nace, the middle school mixed choir Vivace singing “Danny Boy,” “Zat U Santa Claus,” by the middle school vocal group Harmonics, directed by Roxann Hagemeyer, the grade 6 choir Dynamics performing “Merry Christmas to Me,” directed by Hagemeyer and Monica Colletti, and the upper school show ensemble Downbeat performing “Hamisha Asar” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” directed by Catherine Snider and Laura Lang-Ree.
The show also featured performances from Harker’s many talented dancers, including the Karl Kuehn-directed middle school boys dance group High Voltage, the upper school’s junior varsity and varsity dance squads, the former directed by Amalia De La Rosa and the latter by De La Rosa and Kuehn, and the lower and middle school group Dance Fusion, directed by Gail Palmer. To close the show, Harmonics, Dance Fusion, Downbeat and Dynamics all took the stage for the finale, wishing the crowd Happy Holidays in raucous fashion. At the lower school campus, the finale included all groups leading the traditional sing-a-long with a very excited young audience.