The Choir Rehearsal

Annie Conway O'Shaunessey, My mother Karen Lazzaro Trento, Aunt Jeannette Lazzaro Ligouri, Lynne Van-Wyk-Wojick learning music with Mr. Chuck Broadhurst years after high school. 

Me in the 2005 Winter Concert with the Choraleers under Mrs. Cindy Verost

 "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent."

-Victor Hugo

SBHS Alumni singing under Mr. Broadhurst in 1999

Me singing at the Spring concert in 2006. 

 "If music be the food of love, play on,

Give me excess of it,; that surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die."

-William Shakespeare 

Back in 1964, Saddle Brook High School established it's choral program where vocal music would be taught to the students of the high school. The school itself was only in it's first few years of being established at the time. A man named Charles Broadhurst, originally from the mid west, had come to teach the vocal music department. The program began with eight or nine students in the choir. Two years later, there may have been eighty or ninety students in the choir.

By the seventies, the choir itself could be anywhere from 100-200 people. The choir was then split into Boys Glee Club where the boys sang their own pieces, the Girls' Glee Club which the girls sang their own pieces, the select choir known as the Choraleers, and of course the full choir sang together. The Choral department would have it's own concert in the winter and in the spring. Also incorporated in the school were the Spring Musicals which were known to be so professional and Broadway like at the time. To this day, no director would ever touch Fiddler on The Roof because you just can't compare it to the 1978 class production.

For 30 years, Mr. Broadhurst ran the choral department. What better legacy than to have an alumnus continue the school traditions and build the program in itself. Mrs. Cynthia Verost, class of 1975 became the SBHS Choral Director. Along with her own twenty years experience in teaching music and from the things she learned from Mr. Broadhurst, she continued to keep the Saddle Brook spirit alive in the music department.

Let's face it, times have changed and Mrs. Verost has had roadblocks that did not exist in the 1970s and 1980s. But no matter what roadblocks she has had in continuing pushing for an art program such as vocal music, she has created a choir for middle school, taught piano and drums, brought the choir to music festivals in Jackonsville, NJ by Six Flags and Virginia Beach, and several times to the Christmas Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World (which they will be going to this year and donations to help would be greatly appreciated-- she can be contacted at Saddle Brook High School).

However, some of the staple traditions are still alive such as the Choraleers which Mr. Broadhurst established in 1966. The Spring Musicals still go on each year. And at every Holiday concert, the concert ends with alumni in the audience joining for the final three pieces Carol of the Bells, Do You Hear What I Hear?, and The Hallelujah Chorus. This is a tradition that my mother, my aunts, uncles, and close friends of us all who graduated through all the years look forward to each year.

Me singing with my mother and aunt during the Alumni pieces at one of the holiday concerts. 

Alumni always sing Carol of the Bells, Do You Hear What I Hear?, and the Hallelujah Chorus.

Some of the choir in 2007 at the NOrth American Music Festival in Virginia. 

In 1978, 1990, 1994, and 1999 Alumni have had reunions to get together and celebrate and sing, and enjoy. It is now 50 years since the Saddle Brook High School Choir has been established. So this November, a reunion concert will be held in honor of the Choir that has been going strong for 50 years! Conducted by Mrs. Verost, who is still the choral director, alumni from 1964-2014 will be coming together for a magnificent reunion!

Recently, a group of local alumni got together to rehearse a few pieces of music just to get familiar with the music ahead of time, which may help when all of the participating alumni for our day reunion for the 50th anniversary. It was really so nice to be in that room again, and I think everyone who was there felt that way. Some alumni, I know feel bittersweet, knowing Mr. Broadhurst will not be there (it's been ten years since his passing), but they all know he will be there in spirit. I know alumni, such as myself, look forward to once again being taught and directed by Mrs. Verost.

We may not all know each other, some never met before. But we all share a common bond: music. It was a gift that has been passed down like an art. We share a love for the directors and the people we have met. It is a spirit that has been strong for fifty years and we are all excited and honored to be a part of it. And we hope if you're local that you can be a part of it as well.

ANY AND ALL CHOIR ALUMNI who want to sing for the concert, please reach out and sign up at THIS LINK. The concert will be 7:30 on November 29, 2014. It is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Those who are in town, please come to the concert! Tickets will be $5, and alumni, it's an all day event! Rehearsals, lunch, concert, and after party! It will be a beautiful way to celebrate 50 years of a magnificent tradition! (BOWS)

Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO