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To the singers and musicians who have been working incredibly hard this season:
You’ve been stitching together gigs like an elite sport, memorizing repertoire on the run, running choir folders and juggling costumes on too little sleep, and singing concerts that exist only because you showed up prepared, resilient, and excellent.
The holidays are always a marathon for our field—Messiah runs, caroling gigs, church services, lessons, rehearsals, and the constant challenge of schedule Tetris. And this year, you carried all of that while quietly navigating a season that demanded more from you than it gave back.
Even so, you showed the world what professionals do: you made art that lifted rooms, created community in green rooms, and reminded audiences that live music is not a luxury—it’s oxygen.
So as the year exhales into winter, I hope you get the pause you’ve earned.
May your voices feel easy, your rest feel deep, your laughter feel loud, and your music-making feel yours again, even if only for a moment.
Thank you for the hours, the hustle, the heart, the high notes, the low notes, and the everything-in-between notes. You didn’t just survive this season—you created the spirit out of thin air.
Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays, and looking forward to a beautiful new year filled with possibility, artistry, and the kind of inspiration that refills the well.
With love and admiration for the people who make classical music a living, breathing thing…
P.S. Get some rest. Then, go get ’em.