On Sunday, December 4th, members of the high school and eighth grade choirs had the opportunity to travel down to Eau Claire to attend the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 42nd annual holiday concert.  The UW-Eau Claire holiday concert was started in 1974 and has been put on every year since.  South Shore choir director, Nicole Kavajecz, a UW-Eau Claire alumni herself, decided to share one of her favorite parts of the holidays from her college days with her students.   

The field trip participants had to be at the school by 8:00 in the morning in order to make it to Eau Claire.  The weather was rough, but this did not stop the determined music fans. After the gruelling three hour drive, the students were treated to a lovely lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, which allowed them to catch the first half of the Packers game.  They also got the opportunity to see and take pictures with the giant Christmas tree in the Haas Fine Arts center on the UW-Eau Claire campus.  The tree was so tall that the top had to bend in order to fit in the building.  

The concert was held at 2:00 p.m. in the Zorn Arena on the UW-Eau Claire campus.  The concert featured the Concert Choir and Women’s Concert Chorale, conducted by Frank A. Watkins; the Symphonic Choir, Women’s Chorus, and The Singing Statesmen, conducted by Elizabeth Joosten; the Wind Symphony, conducted by John R. Stewart; and the University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nobuyoshi Yasuda.  A wide variety of holiday music was featured, including classics such as Sleigh Ride and Carol of the Bells, along with the UW-Eau Claire holiday song, The Joy of Christmas, written by Ross Hastings for the holiday concert.   Eighth grader Natalie Knaack recalls, “The trip was long, but the music was good.  I liked when we got to sing along at the end of the concert.”

Both choirs will be participating at Large Group Festival on March 15th at Ashland High School in Ashland, Wisconsin.  While there are no more choir trips currently planned for this year, the students are looking forward to being able to do something like this again.