Santa Clarita Christian High School, Saugus High School and Valencia High School choirs have been selected to perform at Disneyland’s Candlelight Ceremony on Dec. 7 and 8.
The Disneyland Candlelight Ceremony welcomes the holiday season by performing a musical retelling of “The First Christmas” that was first started by Walt Disney in the 1950s. This performance features a celebrity narrator, student choirs and a Disney orchestra.
“The performance is about 17 pieces total, with the prelude that also features a narrator that they hand select. A couple of years back it was Lin Manuel Miranda and Dick Van Dyke. We don’t know who the surprise narrator will be until the night of,” said Christine Mocha, Valencia High School’s choral director.
The audition process behind this event is extremely rigorous, said Mocha. She said the choir had to turn in multiple audition recordings for each group.
Saugus High School’s choir director, Katie Pi, said the students had to learn two songs – one carol song that was provided by Disneyland and then another song of the school’s choosing.
“We just practiced in class for a few weeks,” said Pi. “The auditions are due in September, so it’s pretty much from when school starts you have a month to practice, and then we recorded it. You have to film a video, and then submit it.”
Susi Johnson, Santa Clarita Christian High School’s choir director, said her students were very excited to have the opportunity to audition again and worked very hard to get a spot and she was very proud of them.
“It means a lot to us as a Christian school, because Disney has had this tradition since 1955 and the music is sacred, like we should be singing this music,” said Johnson. “It’s really important to us to be able to sing this text from the Gospel account of Christ’s birth. I deeply respect Christine Tavares (Mocha) and Katie Pi over at Saugus, and to be among them is pretty incredible.”
Pi said she was able to perform last year with another choir and the event was absolutely magical. She said that Disneyland makes the ceremony beautiful and special, and she’s excited to see her students experience it.
It is also an opportunity for students to add professional work experience to their resume, which is exciting for the seniors who got the opportunity to perform this year, said Mocha.
The 45-minute show features different choirs each night. The choirs are accompanied by a full orchestra that stands on top of the Main Street train station. Exclusive guests watch from seats, but the performance can be watched by regular guests if they attend Disneyland on either day.
Santa Clarita Christian High School and Saugus High School will be performing on Dec. 7 at 5:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.
Valencia High School will be performing Dec. 8 at 5:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.
