Connecticut Master Chorale To Open Season

With Annual Holiday Prelude Concert

The Connecticut Master Chorale, under the direction of Tina Johns Heidrich, will present its annual Holiday Prelude Concert on Sunday, November 18, at 3 pm at St Rose of Lima Church, 46 Church Hill Road in Newtown.

Heralding in the holiday season, the Chorale will perform a wide variety of festive selections in this eclectic program which includes the traditional and the unusual, reflecting many different cultures and musical styles.

The program opens with the triumphant “Joyfully Sing!”, which evokes the angelic rejoicing on that first Christmas morning, and features “A Festival of Carols,” a colorful medley of familiar carols that includes “The Promise of Living” (the iconic favorite from Aaron Copland’s opera The Tender Land) as well as the joyous “Shepherd’s Pipe Carol” (of John Rutter’s earliest and most beloved compositions).

Steel drums will perform two special numbers with the Chorale: “Calypso Noel” and “Pat-a-Pan Salsa.” A selection of African Christmas songs will feature the selections “African Advent Carol,” “Yoo, Yoo” and “Ogo ni Fun Oluwa (Glory to God in the Highest), with African percussion instruments as accompaniment.

Heidrich’s own arrangement of “A Greek New Year’s Carol,” a Hanukkah song and a work by Mack Wilberg will add to the diversity of the performance. The concert will conclude with the rousing, exuberant “He Drew the Line!” from the brand new gospel musical Changed by a Baby Boy.

The Chorale will be accompanied by Connecticut Master Chorale Holiday Brass, and Joseph J. Jacovino on piano and organ.

The Connecticut Master Chorale is an ensemble of 55 vocalists in their 14th year of singing in western Connecticut. Newtown residents in the Chorale are Judy Bolduc, Ginnie Carey, Anita Corbeil, David Jurman, Lyn Nagel, Karen Orzechowski, Nancy Raymond, and Dan Yee.

Admission to the concert is $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For tickets or additional information, call 203-743-0473 or visit www.cmchorale.org.

 The venue is handicap accessible. Doors will open at 2:15.