News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Chorale to present free holiday concerts

The Sisters High Desert Chorale and several guest performers will be presenting free holiday concerts on Friday, December 16 and Sunday, December 18.

For more than 20 years, Sisters singers have celebrated the holiday season with free Christmas concerts. Under the direction of Irene Liden the chorale, a community chorus of more than 50 singers, will perform a mix of classical, contemporary, gospel and traditional Christmas music.

As an added treat, guest performers will include violinist Amity Calvin, a Sisters High School student who has performed with the Central Oregon Symphony. Accompanied by her brother Devon on guitar, she will play "Sweet Grandmother's Spatula/Maggie's Pancakes" and "Waiting for the Dawn." Another guest soloist is bagpiper Steve Allely, who will be performing "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Highland Cathedral."

The Forefathers, a men's quartet from among the chorale singers, will sing two traditional Christmas songs. Performers are Si Simonsen, Mel Miles, Jim McCready and Bill Power.

Flautist Trisha Liddell will accompany the chorale on selected numbers, as will Lola Knox on percussion. Adele McCready and Donna Moyer are the piano accompanists.

Two of the choral pieces in this year's selections will include performances in languages other than English. The first movement of Vivaldi's "Gloria in D-major" will be sung in Latin, and the traditional Spanish carol "A La Nanita Nana" is also on the bill.

The Chorale is also bringing back a contemporary piece, "Sure on This Shining Night." One of a group of nocturnes, this work was written by Morten Lauridsen, who was raised in Oregon and has been designated an "American Choral Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts. Lauridsen now resides in Los Angeles and teaches at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

An especially beautiful and haunting addition to this year's concert is "In the Bleak Midwinter," with music by Gustav Holst and lyrics by Christina Rossetti. This piece will be accompanied by a slide show of winter scenes submitted by the chorale's photographers.

The always-popular "Sleigh Bells" medley will be performed again this year. It is a montage of three songs, including "Sleigh Ride," by Leroy Anderson, "Button Up Your Overcoat," by Ray Henderson, and "Winter Wonderland," written by Felix Bernard in 1934 when he saw New York's Central Park covered in

snow.

Two other highlights include a rousing rendition of the French carol "He Is Born," and Norman Luboff's arrangement of the much more contemplative Austrian carol, "Still, Still, Still." Both pieces are to be performed in English. Several other familiar Christmas pieces will round out the concert selections.

As has become the chorale's tradition, the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" will be the concert finale. Audience participation in this final piece is encouraged, and guests are invited to bring their own Messiah scores or simply join in during the singing of this well-known masterpiece. Concertgoers are reminded that it is traditional to stand during the singing of this monumental choral achievement.

Tradition has it that, in the course of the first London performance of "Messiah," King George II stood up during this chorus. The audience followed suit because protocol required that when a king or queen stands, everyone in the monarch's presence is also expected to stand. Nearly three centuries later, the tradition

continues.

Both concerts this season will be presented at Sisters Community Church, located on the McKenzie Highway, just east of Sisters Middle School. The Friday concert, on December 16, will be held at 7:00 p.m., and the Sunday, December 18 concert will be presented at 2:30 p.m. The concerts are free to all, and cookies and snacks will be served during the intermission of the performances.

The Sisters High Desert Chorale is an all-volunteer, non-audition choir open to all singers of all ages. For further information, contact Irene Liden at 541-549-1037 or [email protected]

For more information visit www.sisterschorale.com.

 

Reader Comments(0)