The Jupiter High School chorus is taking on Disney Candlelight, an annual event where choirs throughout the world perform Christmas songs at America Gardens Theatre in Epcot, Dec. 5, 2023. They were selected amongst other choirs after a rigorous audition process.
Candlelight has been a tradition since 1958 and tells the story of Christmas. It consists of a guest narrator, this year John Stamos, and the choirs. In the past, narrators have included Ben Robbie Benson, Isabella Rossellini and Neil Patrick Harris.
“When I started in 2015, the choir teacher had been doing [Candlelight] before,” Christopher Moore, JHS chorus teacher, said.
In order to participate in this event, the choir sent in an audition process by which they practiced and then recorded their own piece.
“We have to send in a tape. One of them [the songs] is a required piece. Another one is whatever we wanted to do,” Moore said. “They then tell all the chorus’ they made it in and they schedule you based on priority and based on your score.”
They sang O Holy Night and Shout for Joy in the audition tape and now that they were chosen to sing, they are required to learn a set of 13 songs. These songs include the following: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”; “O Little Town of Bethlehem”; “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”; “Shout for Joy!”; “O Come All Ye Faithful”; “Away in a Manger”; “O Holy Night”; “Angels from the Realms of Glory”; “Do You Hear What I Hear?”; “Rejoice With Exceeding Great Joy”; “What Child is This”; “Silent Night”; “Joy- Hallelujah” “Let There be Peace on Earth.”
“I’m most excited about singing ‘Shout for Joy’ because it’s a fun song to sing, and because it’s one of the first songs that we had learned,” Ava Christie, freshman, said.
The chorus will perform in a mass choir, multiple choirs joining and singing together, and alongside a cast choir, adults who audition and live in the area.
“They sing with us, but there’s also a full orchestra of strings,” Moore said.
There are three shows a day, each school performs once, the JHS chorus sings at 5:15 p.m.
The chorus can’t wait each year for Candlelight. Inside of the chorus, excitement for this event is heightening as the days go on.
“It’s one of those things everybody looks forward to,” Elizabeth Cappiello, senior, said. “When people graduate they miss it and wish they can go back and be able to do it again.”
