Wintertide Concert hits and highlights

We’ve had a few days to decompress from the excitement of our annual Wintertide Concert–Wow! What a concert! The room buzzed with love and support from our family and friends, and our singers lit the air on fire with their voices.

You know, a performance is just a rehearsal without the audience. There is something magical about sharing, especially sung music, with others. Here’s an excerpt from our program notes saying just that:
“While it is easy to view a performance as a chance to display accomplishment, where the function of the audience is to bestow praise upon the performers, here at City Singers Children’s Choirs we color the concert experience a bit deeper: we view a performance as a chance to communicate the beauty and power of the songs we sing to you, our listeners.  The difference between a musical show-and-tell and tonight’s concert is that you as an audience member are not a cheerleader, but an active participant in the alchemy of the evening. Together we change ink on a piece of paper to memorable moments that reach our hearts—this, friends, is the power of song!

Program:

The Lamb………….Richard Wienhorst , poem by William Blake (1757-1827)

Deo Gracias……………..A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 by Benjamin Britten

There’s a Little Wheel A-Turnin’ in my Heart……………………………..Spiritual, arr. Robert A. Harris

Old Roger is Dead…………………………………Traditional English Song Game
Now All The Woods Are Waking……………………………American Folk Song
My Dame Hath A Lame Tame Crane……………………American Folk Round
Dormi, Dormi………………………………………Italian Carol, arr. Mary Goetze
The Wren Song……………………….Tradition Irish, arr. by John F. Campbell
Tum Balalaika……………………Trad. Russian Yiddish Song, arr. Jay Broeker
Haida………………………………………………Chassidic Round, arr. Henry Leck

What Shall We do with a Drunken Sailor?…………………………..Sea Chanty, arr. Gary E. Parks

I’m Bound Away…. ………………….…………….Sea Chanty, arr. Donald Moore

A Pawnee Prayer………………………………… …… Text from Pawnee People, Music by Kirby Shaw
The Black Snake Wind………..Text from  Akimel O’odham (Pima) People, Music by Mary Goetz

Ose Shalom…………………………Trad. Hebrew text , Music by John Leavitt

This Little Babe……….A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 by Benjamin Britten, Poem by Robert Southwell  (1561?-1595)

You Can Dig My Grave………………………….Spiritual, arr. Clarence J. Hesch

Come Travel with Me…………………….…Text inspired by Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road , Music by Scott Farthing
The Arrow and the Song……….…poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , Music by Mary Lynn Lightfoot

Bwana Awabariki…………………..…………..Swahili Folk Hymn, arr. L. Dripps