As dead week rolled around the corner, students were busy studying, working, and finishing up last-minute projects for class. Others on campus were gearing up for the annual Christmas concert at Corban, including many music professors who devote much of their time and energy to the Christmas concerts.
Many students and staff look forward to this tradition on campus.
Each year, the Psalm Center is decked out in Christmas wreaths, trees, lights, and poinsettias. In addition, the choir, band and orchestra students put in many hours of practice to prepare for this concert.
However, this year, after campus closed down due to icy conditions on Friday, Dec. 6, the Christmas concerts were canceled on that evening as well as Saturday, Dec. 7.
It was an unfortunate time, as family members had driven into town to see their children perform.
Eli Olson, a senior this year, went to lunch on Friday around 11:15 AM with his parents, who had driven down from Kent, Wash. to see the performance. When he returned to campus, he found out the concerts had been canceled.
“I would say I was more disappointed than my parents,” Olson said. “But they decided to stay because they had hotel reservations they couldn’t cancel. We decided to go to the movies, and ended up seeing Disney’s Frozen, which was very appropriately titled for that day.”
Olson thought it would have made sense to hold a concert for those already on campus.
“I am bummed because it was my senior Christmas concert,” he said, “it seemed as if we could have at least done one concert on Saturday, just for those who could make it or who were stuck already on-campus and people like my parents.”
It was also sad to hear about all the practice hours that went into these concerts.
“It [was] a let-down for the seniors, and especially the soloists for ‘The Messiah,’” Olson said. “We spent nearly 4 hours in rehearsal Thursday night for basically nothing.”
Even though the Corban community wasn’t able to enjoy the concerts, we are still proud of the work put into the music. Thank you to all who put in a tremendous amount of time for these canceled concerts.