Lynn Untermeyer Miller hasn’t seen every Candlelight Concert.
There have been 84 years of them. The Staples High School Class of 1971 graduate is only 71 years old.
But she’s been to plenty, beginning with her years as a student.
She’ll be there again this week, for the Staples Music Department’s annual gift to the town.
She’ll be joined by hundreds of other grateful Westporters. Parents will proudly watch their teenage singers, and orchestra and band members, as they perform complex pieces with talent, passion and pride.
A small part of the large Candlelight Concert.
Westporters whose own kid have long graduated — or never went to Staples, or are not yet there — will thrill to the concert too, appreciating the mix of tradition and change that has sustained the Candlelight Concert for over 8 decades.
Middle and elementary school boys and girls will dream of the day they can take part in the remarkable event.
And alumni will stride, with excitement and smiles, onto the stage for the finale: a rousing rendition of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” The massed group — a couple of hundred current musicians, and dozens who preceded them — is part of what makes the Candlelight Concert so special.
The “Hallelujah Chorus” ends the Candlelight Concert. The “Sing We Noel” processional begins it. (Photos/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)
But none of it would happen without this week’s Unsung Heroes: the Music Department.
The staff — Jeri Brima, Carrie Mascaro, Kevin Mazzarella, Lauren Pine, Caitlin Serpliss and Gregg Winters, plus townwide music coordinator Steve Zimmerman and administrative assistant Liz Shaffer — have been working toward this moment since the summer.
They have great talent to work with. Our superb middle and elementary school music teachers deserve a great hand, for preparing the high schoolers so well.
John Ohanian created the first Candlelight Concert, in 1940.
No list of Unsung Heroes would be complete without the men and women who created, nurtured and grew the Candlelight Concert, from before World War II to today.
John Ohanian, George Weigle, John Hanulik, Bob Genualdi, Jack Adams, Nick Mariconda, Alice Lipson, Luke Rosenberg, and many other music educators, are the reason Candlelight has evolved, flourished — and made the holidays special — for over 80 years.
They, and everyone else associated with the Candlelight Concert, are true Unsung Heroes.
Take a bow!
ENCORE: One of the great Candlelight traditions is the “Sing We Noel” processional. Click here to learn about its unique back story.
(Unsung Hero is a weekly “06880” feature. To nominate a hero, email 06880blog@gmail.com. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)