Gallery • 6 Photos

Jane Yau '29

Surrounded by the cast of 'Alice By Heart,' Eli Graves (12) embraces choir director Mrs. Lindsey Reinhard Silva after the Revels choir performance.

Joyful cheers and warm laughter filled the Wallingford Community Arts Center on Saturday, Jan 31, as the Strath Haven Silvertones hosted their biennual event, the Twelfth Night Revelry, featuring live performances, food, and drinks. The event serves as a fundraiser for the choir’s upcoming trip to Austria. 

Parent volunteers mostly organize the event, helping everything run smoothly. Parent volunteers also helped to supply food catered by Dimsumania, 320 Market Cafe, Temaki, and DiFabio’s, along with a variety of handmade dishes. In addition, a drink section offered mocktails, cocktails, and a wide variety of sodas. 

“This was the first Strath Haven event where I felt like I was totally hands off, other than providing the students [with] their musicianship,” choir director Mrs. Lindsey Reinhard Silva said. “I was really excited to see what they pulled together, and I was completely blown away. It was amazing.”  

The Silvertones travel every other year over spring break on an international trip to Europe. This year, the trip takes place in late March, leaving a little over a month left to prepare. 

“I think we’ll be able to make really good progress in that time,” sophomore Joya Denninger said. “We’re totally on track to be really prepared.”

The trip costs around $3,500 per student, and the Silvertones are trying to raise as much as possible by hosting multiple fundraising events throughout the year. 

“[At Revels], we’re raising enough so that we can get a bus to take us to Newark Airport and back, since it’s a long drive,” sophomore Asha Miller said.

In addition to fundraising for the trip, Silva has also been busy planning and working through the trip logistics. 

“[The trip to Austria] has been truly over the last 12 calendar months, a full year of planning,” Silva said. “The first step was to find a tour company, and they’re responsible for planning the itinerary. And then beyond that, it’s been collecting payments, making sure that we have tour repertoire selected that’s really exciting, and getting the students singing that repertoire really comfortably.”

After months of preparation, the Silvertones’ hard work showed at their Revels event, and Silva is proud of her students’ performances.

“I loved the energy that the students brought to their performances, both the choir performances and the individual singers and players”, Silva said.

As the trip gets closer, students feel confident and ready. 

“I’m really excited for [the trip], our choir teacher, Mrs. Silva, is just amazing, and she’s prepared us so long for this,” sophomore Kate Santee said.