NEW ENGLAND CHAMBER CHOIR
Welcome.
George Frideric Handel
Messiah
Part one and the Hallelujah chorus
Presented by an ensemble and soloists from the choir
Sunday, November 30, 2014 at 4:00
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
355 Camp Street in Bristol, Connecticut
Music for
Christmas XL
Music of
Anton Bruckner, Willaim Byrd,
Franz Grüber, Orlande de Lassus, Heinrich Schutz
New Music by Martin Freestone Fay
Gregorian chant and carols sung in several languages
Sunday 7 December 2014 at 4:00 PM
Zion Lutheran Church 183 William Street in Portland, CT
Sunday 14 December 2014 at 4:00 PM
Saint john's Episcopal Church 400 main Street in Niantic, CT
Sunday 21 December 2014 at 4:00 PM
Saint Paul Roman Catholic Church 2577 Main Street in Glastonbury, CT
Sunday 28 December 2014 at 4:00 PM
Our Lady of Mercy Church 94 Broad Street in Plainville, CT
The Fortieth Annual
Music for Christmas
For forty years, Richard Wm. Donohue has acclaimed the spirit of the season with Music for Christmas. Honoring a tradition which began in 1974, Mr. Donohue has assembled a magnificent program of works spanning eleven centuries.
With the singers along the rear aisle of the church, Music for Christmas XL opens with the Compline hymn Te Lucis Ante Terminum. The choir processes to the front of the hall while singing John Goss’s “See Amid the Winter’s Snow,” a recent ordinal addition to the program. The concert continues with works of William Byrd, Heinrich Schütz, Anton Bruckner, and Orlando di Lasso along with carols sung in German, Polish, Russian, and 15th-century English. New contributions by Sergei Sorokin and Martin Freestone Fay fit seamlessly amongst classical works from which they drew inspiration. Midway though the performance the young voices of the Treble Choir ring out from the back of the hall with “O du fröhliche.” They too process to the front and join the choir for the remainder of the concert. All in attendance are invited to add their voices to the recessional carol “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.” With the entire ensemble encircling the church, the room settles into candlelit silence.
Once again following the forty year old praxis, Music for Christmas ends with Franz Grüber’s miraculous “Stille Nacht,” which sounds forth loudly that “Christ the Saviour is here.”
Content copyright . New England Chamber Choir. All rights reserved.
