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On the cusp of its 40th anniversary, San Benito Oriana Chorale finished the year with a Dec. 17 performance at Mission San Juan Bautista. The performance consisted of holiday songs featured in classic films as disparate as “Fantasia,” “Home Alone,” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
“I came up with a wide mixture of holiday music for this program,” said Rachel Romina, who is in her 32nd season as the chorale’s director. “To me, it’s about reminding us of the joys and the comforts of growing up watching Christmas movies together.”
Romina said she began searching for music to fit the theme a year and a half ago. Seeking not just to entertain but to educate her singers and the audience, the current program included not only traditional Christmas songs and carols but also works sung in Latin, works by classical composers—even a Hanukkah piece.
“The first half is mostly sacred music,” she said, “like a Mozart piece called ‘Ave Verum,’ which is considered one of his perfect compositions. But we also have ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’ and ‘The First Noel,’ those types of pieces.”
One of the more unique pieces, Romina said, was Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” using an arrangement by the a capella group Pentatonix. During the performance, the chorale replicated the sounds of an orchestra by using scat singing.
“Pentatonix are just fantastic musicians,” Romina said. “This piece is really challenging, and I chose it just because it’s super fun to sing and it’s entertaining. And Pentatonix has created a really good arrangement.”
The chorale is accompanied on piano by Maria Amirkhanian, who is also a music instructor at Gavilan College. And this year, the chorale also featured 65 performers, the greatest number ever, according to long-time member Susan Carpenter, who has been singing with the group since 1993.
‘I was looking at a picture of one of our old concerts from 20 years ago,” she said.“There were 28 people in the stands. Just our soprano section is bigger than that now.”
Carpenter has several favorites in this production, including “Carol of the Bells,” which she said the chorale has performed over 20 times, and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” in which she has a vocal part.
She particularly praises Romina for her program selections and her musical abilities in directing the amateur members of the chorale into what she describes as a “fantastic blend of voices that produces this awesome sound.”
“With her musical background,” she said, “Rachel can really play and sing. She’s fantastic. Whatever she gets paid by us is nothing compared to the breadth of her knowledge and skill.”
Rachel Romina at Mission San Juan Bautista. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
Oriana Chorale warming up for performance at Mission San Juan Bautista. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
Susan Carpenter. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
The men’s “Barbershop” group. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
Serenity Welch. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
Oriana Chorale warming up for performance at Mission San Juan Bautista. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
Pianist Maria Amirkhanian. Photo by Robert Eliason.
Rebecca Pearson, who has been singing with Oriana since 2000, said that the two Latin pieces, “Lux Aurumque” and “Ave Verum Corpus,” were her favorites in the program.
“I particularly like the intricate harmonies in ‘Lux Aurumque,’” she said. “The harmonies are very dissonant, and then they resolve, and it just makes a beautiful sound. I’ve been really looking forward to singing those two pieces at the mission.”
One of the youngest members, 13-year-old Serenity Welch, also praised Romina’s selections for the program and said that her favorite song was “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” popularized in the 1949 film, “Neptune’s Daughter.”
“It’s just a really iconic song for me,” she said, “and it’s just fun to interact with all the guys.”
Welch, who had previously sung in the children’s choir at Christ Fellowship Church in 2018 and 2019, said she joined the chorale at the urging of friends who are also members. She said the experience has been “super fun.”
“Everybody’s nice, and they all sound really good,” she said. “It’s given me an opportunity to learn how to listen to other people and try to blend with everybody. It’s a great choir.”
The encore was “Auld Lang Syne,” the traditional 18th-century Scottish song by poet Robert Burns, which Romina arranged herself.
“When we do it,” she said, “people are in tears as they sing along. I think that one really seems to touch people’s hearts and partly just because it’s such an iconic piece.”
The Mission performance was preceded by concerts on Dec. 12 and 14 at Hollister’s Christ Fellowship Church. The church, at 2066 San Benito Street, is also where Oriana Chorale will be practicing for its Spring concerts, tentatively scheduled to be held in April 2026.
“I’m looking at doing an American roots-themed concert.,” she said “It won’t be all patriotic music, but it will include a mixture of spirituals and folk songs. Other kinds of American music, as well, like jazz.”
To join the choir for the 2026 Spring season, contact Oriana Chorale. No audition is required, and rehearsals will start soon, taking place on Monday evenings at 6:45 p.m. at Christ Fellowship Church, 2066 San Benito Street.
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