Estherwood remains mostly silent throughout the year, but once a year the halls echo with harmonies from the Choral Concert. This event connects back to its historical roots, where girls from the “Miss Masters School” would sing vespers in the Estherwood library. As the tradition has grown and survived up until this point in 2024, four choral groups participated, including Masters Singers, 1877, Tower Singers, and Dobbs 16.
A new feature of this year’s concert, which took place on April 11, is the inclusion of the Middle School group, Masters Singers. At the beginning of the year, the Middle School participates in the Middle School winter concert, while the Upper School takes part in the Winterlight concert. To foster connection between the schools, the spring Department of Performing Arts (DOPA) events are organized by category instead of age. The prism concert joins all the classical and wind instruments, while the Choral Concert organizes the singers. This year, all four groups will perform a joint song called Earth Song, conducted by first-year DOPA teacher Caitlin Adler.
Chair of the Department of Performing Arts and director of Dobbs 16 Jennifer Carnevale expressed her feelings regarding this new endeavor. “That’s a new feature this year that I think we’re going to end up sticking with because it’s pretty exciting.”
Adler described the experience of planning for this major piece. She said, “It’s been a lot of me working with each group, including going and working with Dobbs 16. Basically,
it is teaching them how to follow, and as a conductor you have to train your singers to follow you, or else you’re just waving your arms.
Before their performance, the collective groups had never sung the song together. The rehearsal was an entirely new experience for the groups who started preparation for the concert in January.
Before the singers prepared finished touches on their pieces, on Sunday April 7 they gathered to participate in a choral workshop in partnership with the Tufts University singing group The Amalgamates led by Dobbs 16 and Masters alumna, Annie Rubinson ‘20. During her time at Masters she arranged numerous pieces and was a member of Dobbs 16.
Junior Samantha Weber participated in the Choral Concert as a member of 1877 last year and as a member of Tower Singers this year. This year she welcomed the addition of the new joint piece along with the ambiance of the Estherwood.
“Music is one of those things that the more people the better especially in Estherwood because it sounds almost ethereal with the echoes plus you can hear everybody’s unique voices.”
Junior Saachi Bogavelli, a member of Dobbs 16 expressed how fortunate she was to perform in a space like Estherwood but she did reveal some initial challenges that the group faced due to the fact that they usually sing with microphones but in Estherwood they aren’t necessary.
“It’s definitely different for us and something we had to adjust to learn the skill of how to project without having a microphone. So I would just definitely say that it[Estherwood] helps us blend, makes it sound good and it teaches us new skills.”
Soloist for Dobbs 16 and junior Sienna Morin reflected on what the experience was like both as a soloist and member of the acapella groups. Morin was moved by the opportunity to sing the solo in Hit Me Baby by Britney Spears arranged by senior Ehimare Ehikioya
“I’ve been waiting for like a whole year to get a solo…It was just so much fun. It was so different and unique from the other songs you’re performing. And it was just kind of like this burst of energy that brought us all together at the end.”
