School choirs share busy holiday concert schedule

Ramona Unified School District choirs, all under the direction of Donna Ransdell, are preparing for community and on-campus concerts and caroling for the upcoming holiday season.

Ramona High School Chamber Choir, which has sung the national anthem at many RHS football games, will begin the season by performing on KUSI-TV. On Tuesday, Nov. 27, during the 9 a.m. newscast on Ch. 9/51, the choir will sing “Carol of the Bells,” “Fa La La Fantasie,” and “Fruitcake.” The music students’ performances will air live, but will also be taped for inclusion on KUSI-TV’s Christmas Eve/Day program, “Songs of the Holiday Season 2012.”

All six RUSD choirs will take turns caroling at the Craft Fair at Ramona Town Hall during the weekend of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Three RHS choirs—Women’s Ensemble, Concert Choir, and Chamber Choir—will sing on the 30th between 4 and 6 p.m. The Saturday performances will open with the RUSD All-Elementary Choir, and will be followed by the Olive Peirce Middle School Choral Ensemble and Advanced Choirs, between 2 and 4 p.m.

RUSD All-Elementary Choir, made up of interested fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students, will present “Around the World at Holiday Time” on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Charles R. Nunn Performing Arts Center at OPMS, 1521 Hanson Lane. This choir, in its infancy, was started to partially make up for the loss of the elementary music programs and individual school choirs this year. The concert is free and open to the public. Songs to be performed include “Si Me Dan Pasteles,” “Silent Night,” “Christmas is Coming,” “S’vivon,” and more.

The district choirs will continue caroling in the community by entertaining the shoppers at Ramona’s Kmart on Saturday, Dec. 8, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

OPMS Choral Ensemble and Advanced Choirs will present their winter concert, “Wintertime Aglow,” on Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. at the RHS Performing Arts Wing, 1401 Hanson Lane.

The concert is open to the public, with a small donation asked for ages 10 and up. Among songs to be performed are “Circle ‘Round the Moon,” “Hanukkah Holiday,” “O Come O Come Immanuel,” and “Falling Snow.”

The three RHS choirs will present a winter concert, “Winter in the Country,” on Friday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. in the RHS PAW. The concert is open to the public, with a small donation asked for ages 10 and up. Songs to be performed include “White Christmas,” “Jingle Bells,” “Bashana Haba’Ah,” and more.

Two special performances will be included: A vocal version of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” will be enhanced with a performance by a ballerina, and the Concert Choir will be joined by members of the RUSD All-Elementary choir when singing Rutter’s “Star Carol.”

“Please join us for a bit of holiday cheer this year by attending one or more of the performances,” said Ransdell, director of choral activities at the schools.