The Washington Chorus Ends 2021 On Holiday High Note: “Candlelight Christmas” Welcomes Over 8,400 Audience Members and Earns Rave Reviews

 
 

In a holiday season unlike any other, The Washington Chorus returned to live and in-person performances with its 2021 “Candlelight Christmas” holiday concerts, earning record attendance, rave reviews, and strengthening community relationships across a landmark run of seven performances at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and the Music Center at Strathmore.

“Music strengthens communities and brings us closer to each other and to our emotions,” says TWC Executive Director Stephen Beaudoin. “Even in the midst of a global health pandemic, The Washington Chorus took extraordinary precautions to ensure a maximally safe and inclusive return to live, in-person choral music experiences with our ‘Candlelight Christmas’ concerts. Being that these concerts also marked the in-person debut performances of the Chorus under our dynamic new Artistic Director, Dr. Eugene Rogers, it is truly special to have welcomed thousands of new and returning friends and earned enthusiastic reviews for these performances. We can’t wait to welcome our audience back again and again for more transformative live choral experiences in 2022.”

Some highlights from The Washington Chorus’ 2021 run of “Candlelight Christmas” concerts include:

  • Welcoming over 8,400 audience members to its run of seven performances, surpassing the number of audience members who attended TWC’s last live, in-person ‘Candlelight Christmas’ concerts in 2019!

  • Averaging two-thirds capacity houses over the run of shows, with some houses as large as 75-80% capacity. Given the market research on the unique challenges of returning to live performance during the pandemic conducted by Wolf Brown (Audience Outlook Monitor), the Chorus is duly proud of this accomplishment.

  • Rave reviews in Broadway World and District Fray publications, with District Fray lauding TWC’s 2021 ‘Candlelight Christmas’ as a “big scoop of holiday cheer,” noting this “treasured family holiday concert… brought concertgoers to their feet again and again… the audience chanted and danced the night away.” And in its enthusiastic review, Broadway World hailed the many “spirited, memorable, and impactful” performances, and highlighted how “Rogers did a wonderful job of narrating and engaging the audience,” proclaiming the concerts “a warm and welcoming way to spend a holiday evening, with something for everyone to enjoy.”

 
 

Additionally, The Washington Chorus was proud to welcome over 300 guests from valued community partner organizations as part of “Operation: Spread the Music,” which awarded free tickets to families, students, and school and community organizations for “Candlelight Christmas” 2021.

  • Ayuda

  • Big Brothers/Big Sisters National Capital Area

  • Brain Injury Services

  • Campagna Center

  • Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School

  • Children’s Law Center

  • Eastern High School

  • Hayfield Secondary School

  • Higher Achievement

  • L’Arche

  • McLean School

  • Pinebrook Elementary School

  • Samuel Tucker Elementary School

  • Washington Children’s Medical Center

  • Washington School for Girls

  • Williamsport, MD High School

  • YWCA of Greater Washington

The Washington Chorus’ 2021-22 season under Artistic Director Eugene Rogers continues in January of 2022 with performance of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 in collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Gianandrea Noseda at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall; a landmark February collaboration with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and EXIGENCE vocal ensemble on Joel Thompson’s powerful “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” and its season-closing performance titled “Justice and Peace,” featuring Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem” and world premieres by Damien Geter (“Justice Symphony”) and Roshanne Etezady.

Emma Moores2021