Every year, New Hope Academy puts on a variety show featuring some of its incredibly talented student body, showcasing a diverse range of talents across our community. This year’s Winterfest was a success, featuring twenty acts of solo singing, duets, groups, and dancing. Students and staff alike spend months in preparation for the big day, and most of our student and staff body members can agree that it definitely pays off. All of the blood, sweat, and tears students poured into their acts contributed to making this Winterfest one of the best ones in NHA history.
Auditions for the fest started in January, and precluded the even more anticipated auditions for this year’s musical Alice by Heart. The fest and the auditions involved with it were a great way for people to shake their nerves before musical auditions, while still feeling the responsibilities of wanting to put on a great performance for their families and friends.
Winterfest encourages a variety of different acts to audition, and although there was a lot of singing involved, there was also a well-choreographed solo dance performed by Leon Burton (‘28), which was a fan favorite amongst the crowd. “It was really lively, and it really got the crowd going,” says Ness Francis (‘27), “I think everyone enjoyed it.” Another well loved act was the opener of the whole show, Alessandra Feldeit (‘26), who sang “Ain’t it Fun” by Paramore with Brianna Perkins (‘28) and Kayla Solarski-Mitchell (‘26) on backups. The entire performance set a great tone for the whole show, and the entire crowd was involved, singing along happily with the song’s chorus. The NHA Voices of Hope Choir, led by the Music Department, sang a choral rendition of Radiohead’s famous song from Ok Computer, “Let Down,” which was worked on for multiple weeks by students of all grades across both campuses.
The NHA Voices of Hope Choir is a great way to get involved with the fests without necessarily putting yourself on stage solo, as you have the support of the NHA community around you.
Plenty of students were also featured in the background of certain acts, playing instrumentals for their peers’ performances. These students, just like the vocalists, put in tons of effort and practice in order to support and give the best instrumentals possible. The integration of students playing for other students helps solidify what Winterfest is all about, which is bringing together all kinds of people to have fun on stage, boost confidence, and work on their performance skills.
NHA’s polished performers will be back for both the spring musical “Alice by Heart” and the spring variant of our annual variety show, Springfest. The NHA Music Department highly encourages anyone with varying levels of experience and interest to try out and involve themselves in the performing arts process.
ana.torres@newhopeacademy.net
