Christmas Kudos For Watkins Mill Choir

Do you hear what I hear—the sound of Watkins Mill singers warming up to make merry melodies at the State House and the White House?

The 18-member chamber choir has landed the pair of high-profile gigs over the next seven days, first in Annapolis on Thursday—where they'll be the closing act for Gov. Martin O'Malley's holiday party—followed on Dec. 13 as one of a handful of schools serenading the White House’s annual Holiday Tours, when the public gets to see the East Wing's holiday decorations.

The performances will be Watkins Mill’s fifth each for the Governor and the White House since Lisa Itkin took over as choir director in 1998.

After consecutive White House shows from 2000 to 2002, they last played there in 2007. Itkin applied for Watkins Mill's first Obama-era show last year, didn’t get the nod but was told to wait. Earlier this fall, word came that her group was on the short list of contenders. Watkins Mill made the cut a few weeks ago; for security reasons, the school had to wait until today to announce the news.

The choir has an hour-long medley of Christmas carols and holiday favorites ready to go—and is already getting caught up in far-fetched notions of meeting the President.

"The kids are extremely excited,” Itkin said. “It makes the group want to perform at a higher level in every performance that they do, and it also makes the other students want to join."

More than just a life-long memory for the singers, the selection gives a much-needed boost to a choral program that has been shrinking despite a reputation for having some of the best voices around.

Part of the problem is a shortage of singers coming out of middle school. So Itkin has started going into the cluster's elementary schools in the hopes of impressing 4th- and 5th-graders enough that they'll join chorus when they get to high school.

In the meantime, Watkin Mill's choral program keeps shrinking. Whereas larger programs like Seneca Valley reach into the 150-singer range, Itkin said, Watkins Mill totals around 60.

"That is small, but the music that they perform is high quality,” she said. “It’s very unfortunate, because there is a lot of talent.”

Take a listen to some of that talent in the video of the choir singing the National Anthem at a pair of home football games this fall. Then listen to them in person at a free concert for the home-town crowd at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Watkins Mill's Timothy O'Shea Theater.