Christmas in the British Isles
Great River Chorale presents “What Sweeter Music,” a concert of new and traditional holiday music and readings from the British Isle countries of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 25 8th Avenue South, Saint Cloud, and 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4310 County Road 137, Saint Cloud. The concert’s title, “What Sweeter Music,” is taken from the first words of the poem “A Christmas Carol, Sung To The King In The Presence At White-Hall” by English poet Robert Herrick (1591 – 1674).
Great River Chorale is joined by the Cantabile Girls’ Concert Choir and Choristers, narrator
Paul-Vincent Niebauer, OSB, and guest musicians Charles Echols, organ, Deirdre Harkins, oboe, Kevin Carlson, guitar (Sunday only). The Sunday performance will be signed by American Sign Language interpreter Anne Rhodes. Mary Kay Geston is the artistic managing director of Great River Chorale and Barbara Brooks is the ensemble’s collaborative pianist. The Cantabile Girls’ Concert Choir is directed by Nancy Parker and the Cantabile Choristers are directed by Deborah Ferrell.
Concertgoers will be treated to familiar seasonal carols such as “Deck the Halls” and “I Saw Three Ships,” and invited to sing along on two audience carols including “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.” They will also be introduced to the lesser-known Scottish carols Baloo, Lammy and Taladh Chriosda, the latter from the Outer Hebrides, islands off of Scotland’s western coast. Great River Chorale will perform The Rune of Hospitality, a setting of an ancient Gaelic rune, “The Darkest Midnight in December,” an eighteenth-century Irish poem that evokes nighttime stillness, and “Prayer of St. Patrick,” a setting of a prayer attributed to one of Ireland’s patron saints that will be sung while the choir surrounds the audience.
Tickets are $16 for adults, $13 for seniors (age 65 and over), and $5 for students (elementary through college). Tickets are available in advance at
www.greatriverchorale.org, and are available for purchase at the door one hour before each concert. Seating is general admission and both concert venues are handicap accessible. This concert is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and it is sponsored by Liturgical Press and Saint John’s Abbey.
Great River Chorale is a 53-voice auditioned choir based in Saint Cloud, that was founded in 2001 and is led by artistic managing director Mary Kay Geston. Members of the chorale live in towns and cities across central Minnesota, range in age from 22 to 75-plus years old, and rehearse weekly. Each season Great River Chorale presents concerts, performs with the Saint Cloud Symphony Orchestra as its principal choral partner, and participates in benefit or outreach performances in central Minnesota. The chorale has been featured multiple times on Classical Minnesota Public Radio’s “Regional Spotlight” and has been selected for inclusion on Classical MPR’s Taste of the Holidays CD featuring “the best of Minnesota’s regional ensembles” three times. The choir was founded in 2001 and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization.