The Harvard Westlake (HW) middle school choirs – Girls’ Chorus, Boys’ Chorus, Vocal Ensemble, Wolverine Singers, and Madrigals – display their vocals during this school year’s winter choral concert entitled Winter Lights performed on Dec.16.

Winter Lights featured 138 7th through 9th grade students from every middle school choir, and was directed by performing arts teacher and choir director Paul Keilbach.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, choral performances have been on a lengthy hiatus. This year’s winter choral concert marks the first choral performance since the winter choral concert performed back in 2019. The continuation of audience attended performances provide the sense of normalcy the HW community has missed.

Winter Lights is the first choral performance Keilbach has directed here at HW and said it was a fantastic experience.

“It was so great. Having the Saperstein theater to perform in really makes the most out of our voices,” he said. “I felt like I had so much support from all the other faculty to make it happen. The students also worked incredibly hard to make it sound great, and it was nice to work in an environment where everyone was working together and trying their best.”

Maya Ray ’25 from Madrigals said that it was great to get back together again after a year of doing online choir classes.

“My favorite part was just being able to sing in a group again, since last year we did it over Zoom. The energy and feel of singing with others is different when you do it in person,” she said. “ I felt that all our hard work paid off, and we were able to turn out great songs! The best part is I believe everyone had a fun time singing all together.”

Vocal Ensemble president Tehmina Malhotra ’26 said it was overall a great experience, mentioning the sense of togetherness she felt while performing with her classmates.

“I was incredibly grateful to be performing as a choir together on stage in person, since we missed the opportunity in seventh grade.” Malhotra said. “Having all of the choirs sing together and harmonize brought a sense of community and a feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves. We were fortunate to come together to celebrate the holidays and bring some cheer and holiday spirit to our school community.”

Wolverine Singer president Justin Kirchner ’24 said it was tough to pick out a favorite part of the show because of the “rush of excitement”. “Being in the back room with 15 of my friends just hanging out and having fun was a part I liked about it,” he said.

Upcoming vocal performances include the Vocal Solo Show (Sunday, Feb. 27), and the Spring Concert (Thursday, May 26)