Rejoice! Rejoice!

The refrain of the Veni Emmanuel resounded in the chapel throughout the Advent Christmas Services of Lessons and Carols. Many thanks to the great company of readers at all three services, to the splendid work of the choirs and musicians, to the choir directors and to the organist, Steven Roe, to the servers, and to the chapel prefects whose labours were outstanding and contributed greatly to the smooth running of all the services. Thanks, too, for the decorating of the chapel so beautifully done by our KES maintenance staff. The services were framed by the singing of the ‘Matin Responsory’ by Palestrina and the readings were bracketed by carols and by the verses of the Veni Emmanuel.

The Junior School Service on Friday, December 2, was quite lovely and the young readers were impressive in their attention to the challenge and task of reading these powerful passages from the classical King James Version of the Scriptures. My thanks to those who stepped up and stepped in at the last minute to read in place of those who, owing to sickness, were unable to be there. The readers were Ruby Wheelock 26, Jose Morales Artigas ‘26, Chelsea James ‘29, Ezra Choo ‘26, Hunter Hood ‘26, Isabelle Sampson ‘28, Will Larder ‘26. Mrs. Taya Shields, Head of the Junior School read the 8th Lesson. The Grade 6 choir, under the direction of Mr. Kevin Simonar and accompanied by Sofia Ning ‘25 on keyboard, performed a lovely rendition of Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Mid Winter”, arranged by Tom Race. The Junior choir, augmented by a number of the Senior choir who kindly stepped in to help out, led the singing of the carols and performed an a capella version of “The First Nowell”, under the direction of Stephanie Fillman. Thanks to the chapel prefects and Mr. Kevin Lakes, hand candles were lit for the singing of “Silent Night” just after the 9th Lesson sung by the Chaplain. The servers were Lydia DesRoches ‘29, Willoughby Larder ‘29, Chris Turgeon ‘26, and Alejandro Arguelles '26. Ezra Sasaki ‘26 piped out the Junior School at a brisk pace to conclude the service.

On Sunday evening, December 4, the graduating class of 2023 had their special Advent Christmas Service followed by a reception. The readers were excellent in their delivery of the Scripture lessons: Julia Field ‘23, Levi Spence ‘23, Lily Sidorchuk ‘23, Lloyd Fromson ‘23, Declan Morris-Schwarz ‘23, Sean Hurley ‘23, Lucy Goddard ‘23, and Mr. Joseph Seagram. Head Girl, Lucy Goddard ’23, performed a splendid rendition of ‘Breath of Heaven’, accompanied by Steven Roe on the keyboard. Various members of the choir, under Stephanie Fillman’s direction, sang the verses of the Veni Emmanuel with the congregation joining in on the refrain, “Rejoice! Rejoice!”. The choir performed their a capella rendition of “The First Nowell” and also offered a lovely version of “Silent Night” following the singing of the 9th Lesson by the Chaplain. The servers were Qiaoman Tracey '23, Maeve Hurley ‘23, Verneri Metsahuone ‘23, August Henrici ‘23 and Adaoma Ukaegbu '23. The head chapel prefect and School bagpiper par excellence, Sean Hurley ‘23, piped us out of the chapel with a rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. A beautiful service.

On Monday afternoon, December 5, the third service for Grades 10 and 11 took place in the chapel. The readers were Jessica Etou Nkaa ‘24, Sadie Junger ‘24, Lucas Martin ‘24, Frances Aceron ‘24, Vincent Armstrong ‘25 along with Head Boy, Levi Spence ‘23, and Head Girl, Lucy Goddard ‘23, and Mr. Joseph Seagram. The servers were Warren Ma ‘24, Tony Ojinere ‘24, Baltazar Pazos ‘24, and Sarah Morales Lopez ‘24. The choir once again performed their a capella version of “The First Nowell” and sang “Silent Night” as well as Palestrina’s Matin Responsory. I am most grateful to the Senior choir for their devotion and commitment in singing at all three services. Once again, piper Sean Hurley ‘23 led us out of the chapel.

The chapel prefects, under Sean Hurley's ‘23 excellent leadership, were especially helpful at all the services, assisting in getting the candles lit in the chapel (and extinguished!), and in helping to get the servers organized. They demonstrated a true sense of service by quietly and competently stepping up and doing whatever was needed without fuss, without bother. They are an impressive group of students who seem to recognize the nature of service to the whole community. They are: Sean Hurley ‘23 (head chapel prefect), Qiaoman Tracey '23, Kate Jahnke ‘23, Ben Roddis ‘23, Mitch Brown ‘23, Maeve Hurley ‘23, Isaiah Johnson ‘23, August Henrici ‘23, Evey Kennedy ‘23, Molly Singer ‘23, Henry Mulherin ‘23, Noah Burch-Pottie ‘23, HyunSeo Kim ‘23, Alan Xu ‘23, Louis Tong ‘23, Adaoma Ukaegbu ‘23, Sebastian Feng ‘23, Lloyd Fromson ‘23, Hannah Stilwell ‘23, Kat Lowe ‘23, and Julia Field ‘23. With them, we were in good hands.

The Advent Christmas Services brought the Michaelmas Term of Chapel services to a fitting and joyous conclusion. My prayers and blessings to all for a holy and joyous Christmas ‘reading’ break!