Con Brio, the shoreline’s renowned all-auditioned chorus, offers another stellar Christmas concert tomorrow, Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme, Conn.
Directed by Dr. Stephen Bruce, assisted by keyboardist Susan Saltus and the Con Brio Festival Orchestra, the chorus will be joined this year by returning bass soloist, Christopher Grundy, and two new soloists: soprano Jurate Svedaite and tenor Steven Humes. The concert will include a selection of the best of the music of the season, both classical and audience favorites.
This year’s concert centers on the best-known Christmas music of beloved British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The concert opens with Vaughan Williams’ powerful Hodie, his last major choral work, composed in 1953-4. Serene, at times even otherworldly sounding, Hodie centers on the mystery of one day, Christmas Day. Flowing with vitality, force and inventiveness, Hodie is the Christmas story, rooted textually in the Bible, Milton and Thomas Hardy, among others, and musically in English countryside carols and the compositional style of Bach. The piece’s dramatic full choruses, at times erupting into the brass fanfares, contrasting with haunting lullabies take the listener through all the moments in the Christmas story.
The second half of the concert opens with two works by contemporary composer Steven Sametz. The first, an arrangement of Lo How a Rose, is sung in the round. Three movements from Morales’ 16th century Magnificat follow. Another Vaughan Williams piece, Fantasia on Christmas Carols, featuring the bass soloist, is founded on four traditional English carols. John Rutter’s favorite-among-audiences, Shepherds’ Pipe Carol, is followed by Behold a Star, one of the most performed Christmas anthems by Felix Mendelssohn.
Two contemporary pieces include Gardner’s festive setting of Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day and Alice Parker’s version of While Shepherds Watched. Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of Christmas season favorite O Holy Night features the soprano and tenor soloists and his arrangement of Angels We Have Heard on High sparkles. Bashana Haba’ah (“Next Year when Peace Will Come”), a New Year’s Carol which the chorus will sing in Hebrew, is a most fitting carol for this season of peace.
Bring your friends and revel in the marvelous sounds and memories and promise of this Christmas season!
Tickets may be purchased on line, wwwconbrio.org, or from any Con Brio member. $30 adults, $15 students, or by mail at 1 McCurdy Road, Old Lyme, CT 06371.