Collingswood Community Chorus Will Host Holiday Performance

On Friday, Dec. 14, Collingswood Community Chorus will again present its annual Have Yourself A Musical Holiday Evening event.

The free concert will be held in the Scottish Rite Auditorium, located at 315 White Horse Pike. 

Before the chorus performs as a whole, a handful of soloists will perform. Solo performances begin Friday evening at 7:15 p.m. The chorus itself—a 50-member vocal ensemble—will begin its set at exactly 7:28 p.m., and audience members are advised to arrive before then. 

Directed by Dale L. Carey, who's been leading the vocal group for at least 15 years, the free event is sponsored by the Collingswood Department of Recreation.

But the history of Collingswood Community Chorus goes back far longer than 15 years. 

Take it straight from the mouth of local woman and 88-year-old chorus member Gretchen Siefring, who said she attended the chorus' very first practice—in 1946.

"I came over to Ellis Island from my birthplace in Croatia when I was a girl," said Siefring. "And after I got older, and married my husband, I realized there were things around town I could be involved in."

And when Siefring said she first heard that a chorus group was meeting at a nearby church, she wanted to check it out for herself, but had her reservations.

"I told my husband Bill to take me over to the church. But I told him to wait outside, in case I changed my mind," said Siefring. "I wanted to see how many people showed up and what they were like first."

But Siefring, who sings alto, said she walked in to find a group of about 17 people who she found charming. After giving her husband a signal to pick her up later, she sang her first song with Collingswood Community Chorus. She's still singing 64 years later.

Some members have changed, yes, but Siefring said the group's passion remains the same as it did at the first practice — which Siefring recalls was held at a Protestant church with large windows that overlooked the Ben Franklin Bridge. On that first practice, she remembers looking out the windows as she was singing, watching fresh snow fall.

"We have a good group, everybody helps each other out. And everyone's voices together, it's so beautiful, it works so well," she said.

The harmony of singers' voices is something Siefring attributes to chorus director Carey.

"He's really fantastic. We all like him, and we're all used to him," she said. "He's a good director, in that everything has to be perfect. And it usually is."

This year, Siefring is excited to relive the concert once again, now an annual holiday tradition for her. 

The event usually runs one to one-and-a-half hours long, ending around 9 p.m. No intermission is held during the performance. The group will sing a variety of holiday music—including Christmas, Hanukkah and winter-themed songs—of familiar and new tunes, some serious and some fun songs.