with a powerful "Rejoice and Be Merry" by John Rutter!
We've done it!
Countless hours of practicing with the choir and individually at home paid up and Mississauga Festival Choir delivered a great performance on December 7th, 2013. The concert was a start of the 30th season of the choir that initially was assembled to celebrate Mississauga's 10th anniversary. Today the choir is 105 voices strong and constantly growing.
When the time for the concert comes near I always get anxious and nervous. When the dress rehearsal and a last warm up before the performance are completed, the temperature rises. There is always something that will go wrong during a life performance and I always want to make sure it is not me. There is always a piece that I should have practiced a little bit more, but the time is up and no turning back.
After we finished the magnificent "Gloria" by John Rutter everyone had a feeling that all went well. Everyone backstage was cheerful and ready for the second part of the performance. The second part was more laid back filled with Christmas favourites and singalong carols that everyone enjoyed. After we sang selected pieces from the "Ceremony of Carols" by Benjamin Britten, which are very energetic and powerful carols sang in the old English, it was time to have lots of fun. We warmed up the audience with "The 12 Days of Christmas" singalong and moved onto more spiritual and Canadian composed music.
The great finish was served to us by our audience as they gave us a great long applause. The appreciation of the community for a good music and their support was the greatest reward for all the hard work.
Great respect goes to our conductor Gordon Ellis for placing the highest bid during our annual "Time And Talent" auction, on having a chance to conduct one of the arrangements during the concert. I'm sure it required lots of courage to stand up there and try to keep all 105 of us under control during the performance of "L'il Boy Child".
Thanks to The Festival Ensemble for providing great music, the performance wouldn't have been so powerful without you, our pianist Andrea Grant for being with us throughout the process of learning until we got the perfection, and our Artistic Director David Ambrose for being a great leader.
Last but not least thank you to our soloists: David Anderson, Glynis Ratcliffe, Sabrina Santelli-Perez and Charles Sy for making the choir stronger.
Our Christmas performance was also a kickoff of our brand new CD "Gloria" featuring the tree movement piece by John Rutter. More information how how we were recording the CD in October please see my earlier blog: CD Recording
If you would like to purchase the CD, please reach out to the choir for more information at:
http://www.mississaugafestivalchoir.com
Looking forward for our performance filled second season. Please stay tuned by subscribing to the blog.
We performed the following arrangements during the concert on December 7th:
First Half
1. "Rejoice and Be Merry" - John Rutter
2. "Let Us Go Out in the Snow" - Robert Smith
3. A three movement "Gloria" - John Rutter
Second Half
1. "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" - Singalong
2. Selected "Ceremony of Carols" - Benjamin Britten
3. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - Singalong
4. "Yuletide Fires" - Diane Loomer
5. "The Huron Carol" - Robert B. Anderson
6. "Christmastide" - David L. Brunner
7. "Good King Wenceslas" - Singalong
8. "L'il Boy Child" - William Dawson
9. "Poor Little Jesus" - John Dixon
10. "Go Where I Send Thee" - Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory
11. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - Singalong
12. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" - Arthur Warrell
We've done it!
Countless hours of practicing with the choir and individually at home paid up and Mississauga Festival Choir delivered a great performance on December 7th, 2013. The concert was a start of the 30th season of the choir that initially was assembled to celebrate Mississauga's 10th anniversary. Today the choir is 105 voices strong and constantly growing.
When the time for the concert comes near I always get anxious and nervous. When the dress rehearsal and a last warm up before the performance are completed, the temperature rises. There is always something that will go wrong during a life performance and I always want to make sure it is not me. There is always a piece that I should have practiced a little bit more, but the time is up and no turning back.
After we finished the magnificent "Gloria" by John Rutter everyone had a feeling that all went well. Everyone backstage was cheerful and ready for the second part of the performance. The second part was more laid back filled with Christmas favourites and singalong carols that everyone enjoyed. After we sang selected pieces from the "Ceremony of Carols" by Benjamin Britten, which are very energetic and powerful carols sang in the old English, it was time to have lots of fun. We warmed up the audience with "The 12 Days of Christmas" singalong and moved onto more spiritual and Canadian composed music.
The great finish was served to us by our audience as they gave us a great long applause. The appreciation of the community for a good music and their support was the greatest reward for all the hard work.
Great respect goes to our conductor Gordon Ellis for placing the highest bid during our annual "Time And Talent" auction, on having a chance to conduct one of the arrangements during the concert. I'm sure it required lots of courage to stand up there and try to keep all 105 of us under control during the performance of "L'il Boy Child".
Thanks to The Festival Ensemble for providing great music, the performance wouldn't have been so powerful without you, our pianist Andrea Grant for being with us throughout the process of learning until we got the perfection, and our Artistic Director David Ambrose for being a great leader.
Last but not least thank you to our soloists: David Anderson, Glynis Ratcliffe, Sabrina Santelli-Perez and Charles Sy for making the choir stronger.
Our Christmas performance was also a kickoff of our brand new CD "Gloria" featuring the tree movement piece by John Rutter. More information how how we were recording the CD in October please see my earlier blog: CD Recording
If you would like to purchase the CD, please reach out to the choir for more information at:
http://www.mississaugafestivalchoir.com
Looking forward for our performance filled second season. Please stay tuned by subscribing to the blog.
* * *
We performed the following arrangements during the concert on December 7th:
First Half
1. "Rejoice and Be Merry" - John Rutter
2. "Let Us Go Out in the Snow" - Robert Smith
3. A three movement "Gloria" - John Rutter
Second Half
1. "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" - Singalong
2. Selected "Ceremony of Carols" - Benjamin Britten
3. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - Singalong
4. "Yuletide Fires" - Diane Loomer
5. "The Huron Carol" - Robert B. Anderson
6. "Christmastide" - David L. Brunner
7. "Good King Wenceslas" - Singalong
8. "L'il Boy Child" - William Dawson
9. "Poor Little Jesus" - John Dixon
10. "Go Where I Send Thee" - Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory
11. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - Singalong
12. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" - Arthur Warrell
Comments
Post a Comment