Centreville High School Symphonic Choir has placed second in the 97.1 WASH-FM 2023 Christmas Choir Competition, earning them a $2500 prize. 97.1 WASH-FM is a Washington, D.C. based radio station that hosted a competition for high school choirs to perform Christmas carols. Their performances were played on the radio, and listeners were able to go to the station’s website to vote on which performance they liked the best. The winning choir won $5000 and the opportunity to perform at the Washington Ballet’s The Nutcracker at The Warner Theater.
Centreville sang Carol of the Bells. The song selection had to be in the public domain, and Symphonic Choir is currently working on two songs that would qualify, but Mrs. Kraft, the choir director, “thought Carol of the Bells would be the more familiar choice for the general public.” Katie Wilson, a member of the Symphonic Choir, said “Carol of the Bells is a traditional song at CVHS; it’s been sung by our Symphonic Choir since before I was in elementary school.”
This is the first year Centreville has ever participated in this competition. “I’ve heard the competition advertised on the radio in previous years, but since this is my first year teaching high school, it was my first time being eligible,” said Mrs. Kraft, who is currently in her first year at Centreville after having worked as a music teacher at Bull Run Elementary School and choir director at Herndon Middle School. “I saw their advertisement online and figured we may as well try. I honestly did it just for fun and really had no expectations of winning.”
Performing the song for the radio was just a matter of recording the song on a computer. “We spent a class huddling around Ms. Kraft’s laptop as she recorded our performance, experimenting with different formations and techniques to see which sounded best through the computer,” said Madelyn Regan.
The performances were played on WASH-FM for listeners to hear and vote. Centreville was first put in the top three choirs, making them a finalist. Madelyn Regan explained what it felt like to hear herself on the radio. “It was unreal. Not only could we tune in at certain hours to hear ourselves, but a few of my classmates told me they’d heard us on the drive to school every morning. Complete strangers from the neighborhood had reached out to Mrs. Kraft after hearing our performance, and I think that’s really when the gravity of our submission hit us.”
Centreville ultimately placed second, receiving a reward of $2500. Calvert High School placed first and McLean High School placed third. Mrs. Kraft has not yet decided what she plans to use the money for, but some of her ideas include “a video camera and SD cards for recording our concerts, some new wireless microphones, new music for our choral library, [or] new engraved choral folders.”
Mrs. Kraft is enjoying teaching at CVHS. “My students are amazing people and wonderful singers. My colleagues are extremely helpful and friendly. I’ll stay here until I retire!” Her goals for the choral program include expanding their current three choirs back to five full choirs. Katie Wilson said “On behalf of Symphonic Choir, I’d like to thank our incredible new director, Mrs. Susan Kraft, for getting us involved with the community more than we have been in past years. We all appreciate you more than you could ever imagine Mrs. Kraft, so thank you.”
“If any students out there enjoy singing but are not currently enrolled in choir, please consider joining us next year! We really have a lot of fun together. Also, our two top ensembles are Honors courses with an extra .5 GPA bump!” shared Mrs. Kraft.
The Centreville choral program has two upcoming performances. The winter concert is on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium and the Centreville Pyramid Choral Concert, featuring CVHS, Liberty Middle School, and five elementary schools, will be held Jan. 8 at 7 p.m in the gym.
