The annual Holidays at Hendricks will ring in the holiday season this weekend with performances from Syracuse University’s choral and instrumental ensembles.

The event will take place on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel, and will feature five all-student choirs from the Setnor School of Music — including the Hendricks Chapel Choir, Syracuse University Singers, SU’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble and SU Women’s Choir — as well as instrumental performances from the SU Brass Ensemble and from University Organist, Anne Laver.

José “Peppie” Calvar, assistant director of choral activities in the Setnor School of Music, has been the artistic director for Holidays at Hendricks for six years. As artistic director, Calvar is in charge of programming all of the collaborative pieces, coordinating the movements of every ensemble, assembling the program and interfacing with all the directors.

“I am sort of chief cook and bottle washer when it comes to everything that happens on stage,” Calvar said.

His responsibilities are pretty significant — Calvar has already started making arrangements for next year’s event. But this year, Calvar hopes to exhibit the diversity that’s present on campus.

“The season gets so overwhelmed with Christmas music and there’s so much more out there,” he said. “I appreciate that a lot of that music is pretty high quality and that it’s perfect for this venue, for this group of people, both our singers and our audience.”

Calvar said one of the main goals of Holidays at Hendricks is to usher in the new season. The other is to provide performance opportunities for Syracuse students — this year, about 160 students will be performing.

Students in the various music ensembles rarely get to perform together, Calvar said, adding that they rarely get to perform for such a large, live audience.

“It really gives efficacy to their work and it creates the kinds of bonds that cannot be explained using words,” he said.

Abigail Tubis, a sophomore communications science and disorders major, is excited to perform in a choir ensemble at Holidays at Hendricks for the first time, considering it’s one of the chapel’s largest events.

She said the audience can expect a wide range of diversity from the performances. For her, Holidays at Hendricks isn’t just a celebration of Christmas, but a celebration of being merry and being kind.

“There’s stuff from all over the world, and not just about Christmas,” Tubis said. “There’s one (song) entitled ‘Jerusalem,’ which is Jewish obviously, and I’m excited about that because I’m Jewish.”

Anne Laver is an assistant professor of organ at the Setnor School of Music and the SU Organist. She will be performing one five-minute organ solo, as well as accompanying the combined choirs.

While Laver spends hours rehearsing for the event, she also assists her students in preparing for Holidays at Hendricks. Samuel Kuffuor-Afriyie, one of Laver’s students, is a junior organ performance major in the Setnor School of Music and will be performing the prelude to the event.

Both Kuffuor-Afriyie and Laver are excited for the large crowd that Holidays at Hendricks brings. Laver said attendees can expect a packed house, but they should also expect a welcoming atmosphere of “goodwill.”

“I think that’s one of the nicest things about Holidays (at Hendricks),” Laver said. “People walk away feeling ready for the holidays.”

While the performers and artistic directors want audience members to walk away feeling ready for the holidays, they also hope attendees walk away from the chapel feeling lighter.

“We’re in kind of a dark world right now,” Tubis said. “Our job is to spread light and that we are capable and deserving of every positive thing the world has to offer, so we want to share that.”

Published on November 29, 2018 at 3:19 am