The East Grand Rapids Madrigals are the most advanced choir in the high school. They have 16 members, 8 girls and 8 boys, and perform all around the area. 

One of the things the Madrigals are most known for is their caroling during the holidays. The group goes to retirement homes, events, and hospitals to spread merry cheer to everyone that hears.  

“It’s super fun to go to other places and just to spread the holiday cheer. It’s really fun to see everybody’s faces light up when we start singing, especially at retirement homes and hospitals that we go to.” Samantha Lovell ‘25 said.

The Madrigals become a super tight group as they spend a lot of time out of school together, especially during the winter. Most of them do not mind the extra time commitment because of the people that they are with and their peers who support them.

“I like a lot of the people in Madrigals. I’m friends with a lot of them so it’s very cool to expand your social branches” Maxwell Baas ‘26 said. 

The choir is led by Ms. Emily Verdonk and she puts a lot of effort and passion into teaching the group that is obviously reflected in their outstanding performances. 

 “I think Madrigals is fun. The choir teacher is a lot of fun and so is the environment.” Kai Chenlo ‘25 said.

The group  has a lot of returning members as only 4 seniors graduated last year. This is good for the environment because most of the students know the carols and can teach the other new members. 

“It’s a busy time but it’s super fun. We have a lot of fun learning all the carols, especially the returning Madrigals from last year who know a lot of them, we get a lot done this year.” Lovell said.

Performing a lot of basic carols like 12 days of Christmas and Jingle Bells the choir adds their own unique spins on them. They do dances along with the singing and they all have uniform outfits that fit the theme of the cheery holidays.

“12 days is my favorite because it’s really fun. We all have different parts and it’s super fun to each go at different times and there are a lot of fun motions that go along with it.” Baas said.

The Madrigals first holiday performance for the year is at the community tree lighting on Friday Nov 29. Students can also see them at other times though and should look forward to watching the Madrigals perform and display their hard work.

“You guys will all get to hear us at the holiday concert this year” Chenlo concluded.