Please join us this Saturday (December 7, 2019) at 3PM for our annual Christmas concert, “Carols for Christmas.”  The concert is free (donations welcomed). The location is First United Protestant Church (above Kaiser and the hospital), 1350 Waianuenue Avenue, Hilo HI 96720 (click link to open a new window in Google Maps).

The concert will feature works from two composers:

Sir David Valentine Willcocks (1919-2015) started as a chorister and progressed through a career as chorus master, organ master, composer and decorated hero of World War II. His choral arrangements ground audiences in tradition and familiarity with a few surprises and sophisticated departures from the expected.

John Milford Rutter (1945-present) was likewise educated in England, also beginning his career as a chorister. Notable in his long career as prolific composer and sought-after conductor is his founding of the Cambridge Singers. Rutter’s original carols are influenced by traditional English and French styles. They also reach into popular idioms of the 20th century that delight the ear without losing the deep spirituality and emotion associated with carols for the Christmas season.

Carols celebrating the birth of Christ originated with medieval nativity plays attributed first to the influence of St.Francis of Assisi in the early 13th century. These plays became the foundation for teaching scripture to a broad spectrum of society, using drama, costume and music.

Surviving the centuries, Christmas carols have evolved from simple 14th century chants and the use of dual languages — Latin for the church and a local tongue for the people — to the melodies associated with traditional and modern Christmas celebrations.

Walter Greenwood will assist on piano and organ. Featured soloists are drawn from the chorus.

Thanks Hilo Tribune Herald for the nice feature:

Hilo Community Chorus to perform at First United Protestant Church

The Hilo Community Chorus will present Norwegian composer Kim Andrè Arnesen’s “The Christmas Alleluias” with harp accompaniment by Tatyana Shapiro-Leiste and guest soloist Amy Horst on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. at First United Protestant Church in Hilo (click link to open location in google maps). Also featured will be Suites IV (“Carols of Central and South America”) and V (“Carols of North America”) from Mark Hayes’ “International Carol Suites,” and a selection of carols arranged by John Rutter, all accompanied by Walter Greenwood, piano.

“The Christmas Alleluias” sets to music the work of librettist Euan Tait, whose text “Unfinished Remembering,” commemorating the outbreak of the First World War, was performed in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall in 2014. He has worked extensively with Arnesen and other composers.

Guest soloist Amy Horst is well known to Hilo Audiences for her crystal clear soprano voice. She is Instructor in music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Hawaii – Hilo. She has been soloist with the Hilo Community Chorus on a number of occasions.

Tatyana Shapiro-Leiste is a professional, classically-trained concert harpist from St. Petersburg, Russia. She grew up in a musical family and graduated with a Master’s degree from the world-famous St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory of Music in 1998. After moving to the United States in 1999, she received her second Master’s degree and worked on her PhD in Music and Harp at the University of Arizona where she studied under Dr. Carrol McLaughlin. She was the principal harpist with the El Paso Opera Company and El Paso Symphony Orchestra and was part of the world’s largest harp touring ensemble “HarpFusion.” She has performed with a number of symphony orchestras. Tatyana has done recordings at Capital Records and at other recording sessions. She has also performed on TV, most recently at “Dancing with the Stars.”

“International Carol Suites” is a work of five geographically themed suites representing 20 countries. The chorus performed the first three suites last year, and the two remaining suites, which will be performed in this concert, include carols from Venezuela, Chile, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, and the United States. Soloists from the Chorus will be Danielle Kwami, Belinda Hall, Pressley Sutherland, Kevin Reardon, and Adrianna Zablan.

Composer/arranger John Rutter is one of the most recognized names in Christmas music. The collection to be performed include “Child in a Manger,” “Flemish Carol,” “Sans Day Carol,” and “In dulce jubilo” (which was edited by Rutter but this arrangement is by R. L. Pearsall). Soloists for “In dulce jubilo” from the Chorus are Adrianna Zablan, Joan Derbyshire, Connie Leyendecker, Roni Koscik, Len Miyazono, Pressley Sutherland, Doug Albertson, and Mike Kingston.

Hilo Community Chorus is a 501(c)(3) organization and is conducted by Tom McAlexander. For more information, call 985-7192 or email tommac@hawaii.rr.com.