Join us Sunday December 22, 2019 for the 13th annual Messiah sing-along at Christ Lutheran Church, 5945 Kapiolani St, Hilo HI 96720 (click link to open new window in Google Maps).
Bring your own music score or borrow one of ours. Sing the choruses alongside community chorus members, or just sit and enjoy. Soloists are D’Andrea Pelletier, Roni Koscik, Tom Mirenda, and Barry Brandes. Accompaniment on piano and organ by Walter Greenwood and Rick Mazurowski.
Free event; donations welcomed
During the dedication concert for a new organ at the Church of the Holy Cross in 2007, a germ of an idea occurred to Tom McAlexander that the Church would be a great place for a Messiah sing-along. At intermission he shared that idea with then Palace Theater organist Bob Alder, whose only remark was, “Yes. Make it happen.” So after making arrangements through Pastor Tom Olcott, the first annual Messiah sing-along took place in their sanctuary. The sing-along remained at Holy Cross until after Pastor Olcott retired, then in 2014 it was moved to Christ Lutheran Church. By request of Pastor Ron Kent of First United Protestant Church, this year it will be presented there as the concluding event of their 150th anniversary year celebrations.
Singer or not, everyone is invited to this sing-along. Audience members who wish to sing may bring their own score, or a copy may be borrowed at the door. Members of the Hilo Community Chorus will be strategically placed in the pews to act as section leaders (look for the soprano/alto/tenor/bass signs on the pews). Of course you may sit and sing wherever you wish or just enjoy the singing. The sing-along will also feature the most famous of all choruses, “Hallelujah,” and end with “Worthy Is the Lamb” and the final “Amen.” The event is free (with calabash), and everyone is welcome.
Conductor is Tom McAlexander and accompanists are Walter Greenwood, organ and Rick Mazurowski, piano. Soloists are Andrea Pelletier, soprano; Lisa Katherine Taylor, alto; Barry Brandes, bass; and Ian McMillan, tenor.
This event is co-sponsored by First United Protestant Church and the Hilo Community Chorus. The Church is located at 1350 Waianuenue Ave. (above the Hospital and Kaiser), There will be two open rehearsals, one at the UH-Hilo rehearsal room on Monday, December 10, at 6:30 PM and the other at the Church on Saturday, December 15 at 2:00 p.m. Anyone who cares to join in for a refresher course before the sing-along is welcome. For more information, call Tom McAlexander, 985-7192, or email tommac@hawaii.rr.com.
Aloha everyone,
The music is here and we are ready to begin rehearsals for the fall. All we need is for the time to pass, as our first rehearsal will be Monday, August 28, at 6:30 pm at the UH-Hilo rehearsal room (click link to open Google Maps window). They’ve been working on the room during the summer, so the A/C shouldn’t blow directly on singers any more. The concert will be on the afternoon of Saturday, December 2, at First United Protestant Church (above Kaiser) in Hilo.
There will be NO REHEARSAL on Labor Day, September 4, and rehearsals will resume the following Monday, September 11.
The program will include Norwegian composer Kim André Arnesen’s Magnificat (with Amy Horst as soprano soloist) and Mark Hayes’ International Carol Suites –Nos. I – III (with soloists from the Chorus). You can listen to the Arnesen here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWaQ2Fh7xzlNMYKVWLAZ8sLIv13AoM3wE, and the Hayes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbMuAa0cSzQ. (Kim is one of my Facebook friends. Although he doesn’t really know me from Adam, it was through my Facebook friendship with Joe Martin that we got him to come and conduct us in concert. Who knows what the future may bring with Kim?)
The semester dues remain at $45 and the music cost is $25. Please pay by check ($70) made payable to “Hilo Community Chorus.” Since we only had 42 singers for our spring semester, I only ordered 50 copies of the music (I usually order 60). So the music will be on a first come/first served basis. We will not save music, but if you have to miss the first rehearsal(s), you may have a friend purchase the music for you. We will order any extra copies we may need, but it may take a few weeks to receive it. Incidentally, the dues are waived for full-time college and high school students.
For those of you going with me to New York in January, I am still awaiting word from DCINY, and I’m sure that they are still awaiting word from Sir Karl. I assure you that we will have sufficient rehearsals to learn the music before we go. Meanwhile, the second $200 payment is due in mid-August, so please send me your checks made payable to “Hilo Community Chorus,” with memo note “DCINY.” My address is PO Box 383, Volcano, HI 96785. I will send them in bulk to our treasurer so he can send one check to DCINY.
I’m looking forward to a great season with some great music.
Aloha,
Tom
from Tom McAlexander, Music Director:
“It was a cold January in 2008 when 25 singers from the Hilo Community Chorus (along with another 18 from the University, of which we were still a part), traveled to New York for the inaugural concert of Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) featuring music of (Sir) Karl Jenkins (He has since been knighted). We had just performed his Requiem in Hilo, and they were looking for American choruses which had performed the work to sing at Carnegie Hall. Our conductor was DCINY’s co-founder and principal conductor Jonathan Griffith–one of the world’s great choral and orchestra conductors. (The other work on the program was Sir Karl’s The Armed Man.) I don’t believe any one of us complained about the cold. It was one of the highlights of our lives. And, we had plenty of time to see a few Broadway plays and eat in some great restaurants. About half of our singers who went to New York that first year are still members of the Chorus.
Since that time small groups or individuals from our Chorus have traveled to New York and other parts of the world to sing with DCINY choruses. It is always worth whatever it costs. Emma had always said she didn’t want to go–she had seen New York. Then she went. She even sat in on our rehearsal with Dr. Griffith. Couldn’t believe how much he was able to do with the large chorus he was working with. Now she wants to go back. So do I.
DCINY is not like other concert promoters. Although they can be of assistance in getting housing, travel, etc., that is not their focus. Their focus is concerts and education. We have always handled our logistics ourselves, individually, and it has worked out great. We can stay at five star hotels or at hostels. We can eat at five star restaurants or small delis. We have to be in New York for rehearsals on Friday and Saturday and concert on Sunday (if my recollection is correct–maybe it’s Saturday and Sunday rehearsals with concert on Monday), but evenings are free and we can stay as long as we want. The latest figures I have for two clinical rehearsals, a dress rehearsal, and concert at Carnegie Hall is $840 per singer unless we have 10 or more, then it’s $790 per singer. VIP travelers (or as I call ‘em, tag-alongs) cost half that amount, and they can have access to our rehearsals as well to the gala party that follows (the real reason I want to go). Or the tag-alongs can just go, purchase a ticket to the concert, and skip the gala.
January 2018 will mark DCINY’s tenth anniversary, and they will once again feature music of Sir Karl in their annual Martin Luther King, Jr. concert. I wrote to Iris Derke, co-founder and general director of DCINY and got this reply “And Aloha to you too Tom! Your beautiful words mean the world to me….especially that you remember our impending 10th anniversary. Having you and your singers with us for the grand opening of an extraordinary decade will be a cherry on top! Bravo!! Yes yes — Sir Karl will be with us in January of 2018 ”
For this 10th anniversary, we were first notified that Sir Karl would compose a 10-minute piece. That has changed. He now is in the process of composing a full-length work (probably 40-45 minutes long) titled “Sing, the Music Was Given” based on a poem by Thomas Moore entitled “Sing–Sing–Music Was Given.” So, for a change, Sir Karl is not composing a religious piece, but one about music. I wonder how many of you have ever sung a major world premiere work–and at Carnegie Hall. OK, I’m stoked!
Let’s make 2018 a really big year and start it in New York singing at Carnegie Hall! Aloha, — Tom”
UPDATE MARCH 2017–We presently have more than 10 singers from Hilo signed up for this trip (so we are at the reduced rate of $790) and more singers are welcome. It is not too late to sign up…yet. DCINY will continue to accept singers until their quota (usually around 250 singers) is met. I am to notify them of any new singers, but I won’t do so until we receive your first deposit check ($200 made payable to “Hilo Community Chorus” with memo note “for DCINY trip” or something similar). Community singers not presently singing with HCC but wishing to sing in this event as guests of our group, please contact Tom. At a later date we will also ask how many accompanying non-singers will go with us.
For more information email Tom McAlexander at tommac@hawaii.rr.com or call (808) 985-7192
(photo from NYconcertreview.com)
Our main concert date is Saturday, December 3 at 2:00 pm, at First United Protestant Church, Hilo HI.
Hilo Community Chorus will also again participate in the Holiday Concert at the University of Hilo Performing Arts Center on Sunday, December 11, 2PM.
Our annual Messiah sing-along will be on Sunday, December 18, at 2:00 PM at Christ Lutheran Church, Hilo HI.
NEW THIS YEAR: we will be participating as well in the holiday show at the Palace Theater also on Sunday, December 18, more details to be announced.
“…What it’s like when human beings are in harmony….that’s a lesson for our times and for all times….” —John Rutter, quoted from the above video on “The Importance of Choir” (please press the “play” button on the above image to watch). We will be singing John Rutter’s Magnificat as the first half of our December concert.
New singers are welcome. There is no audition, and no previous choral experience is required. The only requirement is a commitment to attend Monday rehearsals each week and to practice one hour a week outside of rehearsal if needed. Individual practice parts of Magnificat can be found on Cyberbass (http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Rutter_J/rutter_magnificat.htm).
Rehearsals are at the usual UH rehearsal room (click here for location on Google Maps) on Monday nights from 6:30- 8:30PM. First Fall rehearsal is Monday 8/29/2016. NO REHEARSAL MONDAY NIGHT 9/5 (LABOR DAY WEEKEND).
If you have already paid for the Magnificat during the optional summer rehearsals, you should bring a check for $61 ($45 for dues and $16 for music). If you have not already paid for the Magnificat, you should bring a check for $69 ($45 for dues and $24 for music). Please bring checks made payable to “Hilo Community Chorus.” Scholarships available on request.
Below, you’ll find the December program music links (which also gives the titles/composers of the music).
In “God’s Love Made Visible” the children’s choir from Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences in Pahoa under the direction of Lisa Lilja Wells is scheduled to perform with us. They will also be invited to sing two or three songs on their own.
The last six numbers are all Hanukkah songs.
Our main concert date is Saturday, December 3 at 2:00 pm, at First United Protestant Church, Hilo HI.
Hilo Community Chorus will also again participate in the Holiday Concert at the University of Hilo Performing Arts Center on Sunday, December 11, 2PM.
The annual Messiah sing-along will be on Sunday, December 18, at 2:00 PM at Christ Lutheran Church, Hilo HI.
NEW THIS YEAR: we will be participating as well in the holiday show at the Palace Theater also on Sunday, December 18, more details to be announced.
December program preview:
Magnificat – John Rutter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smxdGiUM4R4
Christmas Day – Gustav Holst https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwNX5PrThiA
Fantasia on Christmas Carols – Ralph Vaughan Williams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECAoloWRobE
God’s Love Made Visible – Dave Brubeck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd8S50r7YD4
Candlelight Canon – Andy Beck http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/look_inside?R=20168584
We Are Lights – Stephen Schwartz http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/look_inside?R=4962607
Dai Diddle Dai – David Eddleman http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/look_inside?R=19736922
Hanukkah, the Season of Lights – Vicki Tucker Courtney http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/look_inside?R=19701652
Hanukkah Wish – Audrey Snyder http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/look_inside?R=8060485
Hanerot Halalu (Light the Candles) – Becki Slagle Mayo http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/look_inside?R=19749718
For more information contact Tom McAlexander
at tommac@hawaii.rr.com or (808) 985-7192
Optional summer rehearsals began on June 13 and continue every other (alternate) Mondays throughout the summer (June 27, July 11, July 25, August 8, August 22). Summer rehearsals are optional and are specifically for John Rutter’s Magnificat to get a head start on this rather challenging music. Rehearsals are at the usual UH rehearsal room (click here for location on Google Maps) from 6:30- 8:30PM. Summer dues will be $15 and music fee is $8. The music fee is just for the Rutter. Interested singers can join the summer rehearsals at any time.
Our regular Fall rehearsals for the December concert will begin on Monday, August 29, 2016.
Hilo Community Chorus 