OLD LYME — The Con Brio Choral Society will continue to celebrate its 25th season with a Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec. 12, at 3 p.m. at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme at 1 McCurdy Lane.
The concert is dedicated to the memory of Old Lyme resident Sheldon Arthur Baker, who passed away Aug. 6, 2021 and sang with Con Brio for many years. He served as its president from 2006 to 2008.
The concerts will feature Gloria’s by Bach, Rutter and Rossini and the Con Brio Festival Orchestra performing under the baton of Dr. Stephen Bruce
The audience will be invited to sing a number of Christmas carols, joining Con Brio’s singers and orchestra.
Con Brio’s singers, numbering more than 60 and selected by audition, come from Connecticut towns stretching from Deep River and East Haddam in the north to Essex and Old Saybrook in the south, west to Clinton, Guilford and Madison, and east to Old Lyme, Niantic and Groton. The group rehearses weekly in Old Saybrook at St. Paul Lutheran Church.
The full program for the concerts is as follows:
Fanfare For Freedom, (newly commissioned by Con Brio for the occasion of its 25th Season), composed by William J. Thomas, Director of Music Ministries, Christ the King Church
Gloria (Cum Sancto movement from Petite Messe Solennelle), Rossini (1792 – 1868)
Joy to the World, Watts/Handel, arr. Wilberg
Gloria (from Mass in B minor), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Mary’s Lullaby, Rutter
Gloria (Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus movement III), Rutter
Kyrie, (from Mass in F), Gabrieli (c.1554/57- 1612)
Kyrie, (from Mass in E major), Rheinberger (1839 – 1901)
*Shepherd’s Pipe Carol, Rutter
*Hodie Christus Natus Est, Willan (1880 – 1968)
The Three Kings, Housman/Willan (1880 -1968)
Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Wesley/Mendelssohn, arr. Willcocks (1919 -2015)
The Christmas Song, (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), Tormé/Wells arr. Hayes
Angels We Have Heard on High, Chadwick/French trad. arr. Wilberg
*These two pieces were performed at Con Brio’s inaugural concert on Dec. 2, 1997, at the First Congregational Church of Westbrook, CT.
Tickets for the Friday evening concert are $30 and for the Sunday afternoon performance, $35.
For more information about the concert and to buy concert tickets, visit www.conbrio.org or call 860-526-5399.