Community Christmas concert Dec. 1 at TVCC
Nov. 24—A jubilant celebration of the wonders of Christmas, featuring the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinal Singers and the Athens Community Chorus is coming soon.
The performance of Benjamin Britten's "A Ceremony of Carols" and Robert Shaw's "The Many Moods of Christmas," is set for 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 1 at the TVCC SUB Ballroom.
"This program is a pairing of a Benjamin Britten's highly regarded collection of carols and Robert Shaw's classic arrangement of some of our most beloved favorites. The singers are from TVCC and local churches who've been working on some difficult music for the past two months," Director Kern Railsback said.
The "Ceremony of Carols" features a bouquet of tunes that each stand out for their individual sounds and stories. The publisher calls your attention to the bold and festive "Wolcum Yole!", the tenderly lyrical "There is no Rose," and, the fiery and dramatic "This Little Babe." all contribute to the flavor of the often performed work.
You'll hear the voices woven around the backing of harp strings, Brittan's unique choice of accompaniment. "If anything shows Britten's genius for writing for voices it must be this work."
The texts were unspired by a book of The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, compiled by Gerald Bullett. That Brittan found while browsing a bookshop. The poems in it fired his imagination to write a Christmas work.
The beauty of Britten's collection, published during World War 2 is coupled with the captivating wonder of Shaw's 1963 work, "The Many Moods of Christmas," These are tunes you've heard in many Christmases past, but never with more grandeur and stateliness.
The tunes in the performance are from suite one of the collection, beginning with "Good Christian Men Rejoice."
The concert is free to the public and sure to stir memories of happly holidays long ago while launching those who attend into the joys of the 2023 season.
