Our wonderful Christmas Concert 2018

On the evening of December 20th, our festive Christmas concert took place again in the Hoffnungskirche Pankow.

The recitation of the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore, actually one evening before Christmas Eve, is a popular tradition all over the world. These world-famous verses have been instrumental in the creation of Santa Claus from the mid-19th century to the present day.
They also had a great influence on the tradition of giving Christmas presents. The girls and boys from Mr. Erman’s theatre class performed this poem throughout the evening between the singing and dancing performances, creating a wonderful atmosphere.

The students from every class performed and sang German and English Christmas classics such as “Silent Night”, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “Schneeflöckchen, Weißröckchen”.

Our Hip Hop Club gave a great performance to an interpretation of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy“ from “The Nutcracker” by Pjotr Tschaikowski. And of course there was also a surprise performance by the Platanus team for our students. Educators, teachers and our managing director brought a cool dance performance from Tyler, the Creators “I am the Grinch” onto the stage and added to an already festive mood.

But the great highlight was the final song. With the junior choir on stage, all the students from our school in the audience sang together the Nigerian Yoruba Christmas song “Betelehum”, a popular song by Grammy-nominated drummer Babatunde Olatunji, which is also known worldwide. It was simply uplifting when our Platanus students from all over the world sang this beautiful song together. If you like, watch the video we’ve uploaded to the school’s Facebook account.

The Christmas Concert is always close to our hearts and everyone in the team is looking forward to it long before it happens. We would like to thank everyone who helped to organize this evening in just 3 weeks, first and foremost our head of the music department, Ms. Kemish and her husband, our music teacher Mr. Leonard. They planned the program during their parental leave and used their little daughter’smidday naps to rehearse. Ms. Wübben rehearsed the songs with the children at school and accompanied them beautifully on the piano in the evening. Mr. Erman took over the complex organisation of the event and made sure that it went smoothly. As always, Ms. Morris choreographed the dance performances and worked with Ms. Peel to plan the substitution during rehearsals. All teachers and educators were great as always, incredibly patient, and supported the children during the rehearsals and performances. The biggest achievement every year, however, is transporting about 300 excited, tingly, expectant and joyful children safely to church at the same time.

Our charity collection campaign was also a complete success. We collected 1,647.18€ and donated this immense amount to the aid organisation World Vision. For this we were even thanked personally by telephone. The money will benefit children and their families affected by the tsunami in Indonesia.

Last but not least we must not forget the most important people: Mainly our Platanus children and young people for giving us a beautiful evening and a wonderful mood for Christmas time.