Main Street Singers hosts anniversary show

The Main Street Singers 25th Anniversary Wassail Concert will be held on Saturday, December 19 at 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church of Palo Alto.

An alumni concert is planned to be held the following night on Sunday, December 20.

“It looks like it will be a great crowd,” Performing Arts Director Mark Shaull said.

“Over 25 years is a significant number of people and we are excited about it.”

Although the anniversary concert was originally scheduled to be held the previous school year, it was postponed until this upcoming winter season.

“We were going to do something in the spring of last year,” Shaull said. “But we had [to make] a change and we decided to do it in December.”

The alumni singers will perform first and will then be followed by the current Main Street Singers in order to perform a mass choir performance.

“Part of this concert will [feature performances by alumni who have become career singers and who] have gone on after Main Street Singers and majored in music,” Shaull said. “They have been out performing in major opera houses and venues in the country and around the world.”

Chris Montoya, ’00, looks forward to returning and singing with today’s Main Street Singers as well as alumni from the past 25 years.

“Main Street Singers is something that sticks with you for a long time,” Montoya said.

“We are even hoping that people who have moved away will get a chance to come join us in a weekend -long celebration and banquet.”

Recital of the featured career singers will be followed by a banquet and then the combined choir of alumni and current Main Street Singers.

The concert is open to the public and tickets for the show are available for purchase at the door before it starts.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the concert,” senior Anna Lee said. “It’s been 25 years, and that’s longer than any of us have been alive. Some of the singers have gone on to sing professionally so I’m really excited to hear them.”

Melissa Paoli, ’99, is also very excited to meet her fellow alumni and hear the entire performance featuring everyone.

“We hope all alumni are coming back,” Melissa said.

Current Main Street Singers have had to dedicate numerous hours to ensure they learn the music for the concert in the weeks leading up to the event.

They have also dedicated lots of time during classes to rehearsing for the performance.

“We learn the songs independently for this performance,” senior Kevin Wang said.

“We download and print out the sheet music and learn it by ourselves.”

The alumni and Main Street Singers are both looking forward to this opportunity to come together 25 years since the creation of Main Street Singers.

“It [is going to be exciting] to see the history of Main Street Singers with my own eyes,” senior Aksai Bapa said.