Connecticut Yuletide Carolers - Carolers

The Connecticut Yuletide Carolers are committed to preserving the tradition of Christmas and holiday music, exposing new audiences, particularly young people, to the carols and hymns of yesteryear. Formed in 2006 by Michael and Lori Cartwright with six singers and twelve performances, the group has now expanded to thirty performers, making over eighty appearances during the busy holiday season.

The Carolers repertoire consists of over fifty songs. Most are familiar classic holiday tunes, such as “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas,” “Carol of the Bells,” “O Tannenbaum,” and “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.”  We also perform a several contemporary songs (“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Frosty the Snowman,” "Let It Snow") as well as several Hanukkah songs, so that all audience members can enjoy our music. The Carolers perform in traditional Victorian costumes to complete the atmosphere and are ready to entertain audiences either indoors or outside.

Performances feature an a capella quartet – 2 women and 2 men – allowing for flexibility to schedule simultaneous performances during the brief, but busy, holiday season. The group’s roster includes singers from many different musical backgrounds. Some have choral experience; many have performed in musical theatre or opera productions; all the members have had musical training either privately or as part of a performing group.

The Carolers have appeared at a wide variety of venues – libraries, museums, senior centers and residences, town holiday festivals, health care facilities, shopping malls, wedding receptions, corporate events, social clubs, to name a few. They’ve also been featured in several Hallmark Channel “Countdown to Christmas” movies filmed in Connecticut. This broad cross-section of venue styles means that the Carolers are ready to adapt to any situation. Often, the group is singing at an event such as an outdoor festival where the audience will only listen to them briefly, for a song or two, before moving on; therefore, the Carolers must engage them quickly. Some settings are in the style of a concert, with the audience seated for the entire performance; this setting includes short “narratives” which educate the audience about the origins and traditions surrounding the history of our traditional carols. The audience ages can vary at many events; the Carolers’favorite audience interactions involve getting a crowd to sing along, rattle jingle bells, or hold up numbered cards to keep everyone together as the singers and audience make their way through a rousing rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”