On Dec. 5 at 7 p.m., Lemont High School’s choir and band will be presenting their annual Christmas prism concert. In addition, they will perform their choral concert on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m., at LHS. The concerts usually run from an hour to an hour and a half.
If you are looking to attend the concerts they are free admission. Attendees are encouraged to bring a canned good that will be donated to local food pantries. All items are welcome, but specific items are needed, including hygiene products (no toothpaste) and home care products.
Many amazing and memorable songs will be played at the prism concert including “Snowman” by Sia, “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” by Kirby Shaw and “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes. At the choral concert, the songs that will be played are “Ad Astra” by Jacob Narverud, “A Million Dreams” (from “The Greatest Showman”) arranged by Mark Brymer, “Somewhere in My Memory” by Mark Hayes, “The Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy” by Peter Tchaikovsky, “New Fallen Snow” by Stan Pethel and “Cold Snap” by Mark Hayes.
A prism concert is where students are able to get together with other students who are not used to being together in small groups – around six to seven students. They get to pick their music, rehearse their music and perform in a small group with no director. The reason why they call it prism is because of the different colors that are involved in a real prism. Every group is a different color, so they all get their own parts.
In the choral concert, the choir performs six to seven songs, followed by a short intermission where the entire band plays. At the concert’s end, everyone comes together, and the audience sings along.
Everyone in the choir and band faces many challenges along the way of perfecting their songs. They have been rehearsing some of their songs since August and practicing their holiday songs since October. A challenge the members of the choir and band have to face is having to memorize all their songs, as they don’t have their music sheets with them when performing.
At the end of the choral concert, there will be a surprise guest who will be doing a narration for the band.
“I can’t tell you who the surprise guest is going to be,” said Choir Director Dave Nommensen. “If you want to come to the concert you will find out who the surprise guest is that will be narrating one of the band’s songs.”
The choir and band concerts have been happening for more than 27 years and have gotten a lot of attendees in years past. This Christmas concert is sure to put attendees in the Christmas mood.
“My mom has come to the concerts for all the years I have been doing this, and she said that the concerts really put her in the holiday spirit. She said that there is nothing like holiday music and hearing the lyrics from holiday music from the choir,” said Nommensen.
