Concerts and Festivals
Concerts
The choral groups perform in concert several times each year for parents, siblings, staff, and other students. The Men’s Chorus traditionally sings the national anthem at the Homecoming football game (this year: Friday November 4, 2011). All of the choral groups perform several selections at the annual Winter Concert held each December (this year: Thursday December 15, 2011). The groups also perform during the school’s Music Department Assemblies held just before the winter break (this year: Friday December 23, 2011). The other major appearance for the ensembles is during the Walt Whitman Festival of the Arts held in May (this year: Wednesday & Thursday, May 2-3, 2012) This concert is held in the school cafeteria over two nights with instrumental and choral groups sharing the stage. The larger Whitman community attends the Festival and people tend to come and go from the concert to the visual arts venues in a very casual atmosphere. The Chamber Choir has a Farewell concert each year, held at the Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church just prior to graduation (this year: Farewell Concert-Monday June 4, 2012; Graduation-Wednesday June 6, 2012). Each year, any of the choral groups may participate in performances and concerts in addition to the school based ones listed above.
Festivals
Montgomery County mandates that high school music departments take at least one ensemble of each genre to the MCPS festival each year as a means of external assessment. Whitman ensembles consistently earn superior ratings at these events, and therefore are eligible to attend State festivals as well. While the State festivals are not mandatory, it is a tremendous honor to qualify year after year.
The competitions are run much the same way in both the county and state festivals. Three judges, each with a copy of our music in hand, provide us with written and verbal critiques. Kept in the right positive spirit, the festival/competitions provide a set of goals to work towards and a wealth of positive feedback for both the music directors and the students. When a Whitman ensemble does well, a wonderful feeling of camaraderie is generated within the group of talented individuals who worked so hard for a common goal: musical excellence. The dates for this year’s festivals can be found on the Calendar page.