Kathy Landschulz and her son Will have long shared a love of singing.
Will, 28, joined his mother this year in the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir. Kathy has been an ISC member for 12 years.
“It’s been a lot of fun to join the choir with mom,” Will said.
The Zionsville residents will perform in the ISC’s annual “Festival of Carols, which will celebrate 30 years with a special broadcast of the performance on MyINDY-TV 23 at 7 p.m. Dec. 21. The broadcast is in lieu of a live audience due to ongoing COVID-19 precautions.
“When Will was in high school, he really discovered of all the different musical things he tried that singing resonated, and it was a real joy,” Kathy said. “That delighted me because singing has been a lifelong joy for me, so to have Will discover that was really extra nice.”
Will graduated from University High School in 2010, where he started out in the orchestra but moved to choir.
The mother and son performed together in a small group at Zionsville Lutheran Church.
“A fellow Symphonic Choir member and myself have been working on Will for a while to join,” Kathy said.
Kathy said the ISC Artistic Director Eric Stark and staff also encouraged Will to join.
“He’s a tenor and they’re always looking for tenors,” said Kathy, an alto.
Will said the “Festival of Carols” features a fun set of songs.
At the annual ISC gala, there is a choose-a-carol silent auction.
“I won and I chose ‘Welcome Christmas’ from ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas,’” Will said. “I’ve had an utter blast singing that. Lots of lyrics have taken on a new inspiring meaning.”
Kathy said the song seemed appropriate because of all the times that COVIC-19 tried to steal the Christmas spirit with the cancellation of many traditions.
“Everyone was delighted to sing that piece,” she said.
Kathy said some songs are performed virtually, which is a new experience for choir members.
“Instead of singing side by side and having all the voices around you, you record yourself individually listening to a guide track of all the parts,” Kathy said. “All the tracks are put together by a professional sound engineer and they reassemble the choral sound from all the tracks. That was an utterly new experience. We heard about it as possibility and we were all real excited about it.”
The performance will feature Indianapolis native and world-renowned soprano Angela Brown. It also will feature the premiere of “Heart of God,” winner of annual Christmas Carol Commission Competition.
“A small group with lots of distancing performed with Angela Brown,” Kathy said. “The rest of us submitted our individual tracks and we waiting to see what it sounds like when it gets reassembled.”
Kathy and Will will sing Christmas carols as part of ISC’s “Christmas at the Zoo” at the Indianapolis Zoo from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 19
