Winter choral concert, Jewett Center at Westminster College; Saturday, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. One performance only.It was a choral music lover's dream Saturday evening. Westminster College presented its annual winter choral program. And, since it is winter, the concert was dominated by music associated with the holiday season.
Three different choral ensembles performed: the Westminster Chamber Singers, under the direction of Christopher Quinn, and the Westminster Singers and the Westminster Women's Choir, both directed by Roberta Shimensky. And, for good measure, the Westminster Chamber Music Ensemble and Orchestra, led by Douglas Kinney Frost, joined in the festivities, too.
The program, which was divided into five parts, was richly varied, offering the standing-room-only audience a vast selection of works that ranged from early music to contemporary songs.
The program opened with the combined choirs singing two rhythmically exciting pieces, accompanied by percussion, "Talitha Kum" by Joseph Martin, and "African Noel", arranged by Andre Thomas. This was preceded by a "Holiday Medley", arranged by Quinn, that was made up of several well-known English and French Christmas songs.
The Westminster Singers took the stage next. This is a mixed choir in which the men are outnumbered by the women by about three to one. But, surprisingly, this didn't affect the sound -- the group sounded well-balanced and even. Of the six pieces the group sang, there were two contemporary songs that were especially lovely: "Salvation is Created," by Paul Tschesnokoff, and the serene "Creator of the Stars of Night," by Joe Cox. The latter also featured a fine solo by Roseanna Watts.
And since this is the Christmas season, the concert wouldn't be complete, of course, without a performance of "Silent Night." In this case, this most famous of all Christmas songs was given an effective modern setting with very contemporary harmonies. Liz Boggess was the soloist in this performance.
There were also several purely musical interludes. Flutist Ann Weber and pianist Rachel Thomas played an arrangement of Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on Greensleeves." Violinists Summer Schafer and Eun-aha Yoon and pianist Meoung Uoon performed the first movement of Vivaldi's Violin Duet in D minor. And a recorder consort, consisting of Karlyn Bond, Christopher Cline, Cheryl Hart, Gordon Wildman and Lissa Hepner Wildman, played the old German hymn "Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein".
The Chamber Orchestra opened the finale by playing the first movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto in G major. The combined choirs then sang "Two Carols" by the 20th century composer Peter Warlock. And this great evening of holiday music ended on a festive note with two Mack Wilberg arrangements: "Fum, Fum, Fum!" and "Angels We Have Heard On High."