The FHN choir program is holding its annual winter concert on Friday, Dec. 17, in the auditorium. Tickets for the concert are going to be $3. Jennifer Oncken, FHN’s choir director, has been anticipating the winter concert.

“It’s exciting and nerve-wracking but also really beautiful,” Oncken said.

The choir program has been preparing for this concert since the start of the school year. This year the winter concert has been pushed back an extra month to help rekindle the relationship that has diminished throughout the choir program the past year. SaVanna Daniels, a freshman in the choir program, has been nervous for the upcoming concert but she looks forward to singing one of her favorite songs, “Days of Beauty” during her first high school choir concert. She is ecstatic to hear everyone while on the risers.

“It’s neat because that’s the moment that it all comes together,” Oncken said. “It’s their big reward and their big payoff for everything they’ve worked for.”

Last year, performances had to take place in the gymnasium instead of the auditorium due to COVID protocols. According to Oncken, it proved to be difficult last year for the choir to adjust to the gym’s atmosphere. Holding the concert in the auditorium again will bring back the feeling of normalcy and students are excited to showcase their abilities. 

“This concert is really to prove what I’ve got,” Melissa Guerrero-Bernal, a freshman in treble choir, said.

Guerrero-Bernal looked up to her sister and all she had accomplished throughout her choir career. She wanted that for herself and saw that choir was a place she wanted to be. For first-year choir students, the winter concert is their first performance being a part of the choir program. While for others it is another opportunity for them to express their love for music.

“Choir is a really cool one size fits all community,” Oncken said. “We celebrate uniqueness and diversity and every different person here is welcome and loved and accepted because they bring themselves to the picture.”