DEAR FRIENDS

Happy Holidays to each and all!

Music brings great joy at this time of the year. Join ProMusica for three concerts of scintillating sounds that promise to brighten your lives. On Friday evening, December 14th, you can sing and sing and sing some more – all of the choruses from Handel’s beloved Messiah. This year, we will offer Mozart’s charming orchestration of this classic masterpiece, in an effort to keep this shared music-making experience fresh and alive.

Singers will be seated by vocal part – all of the sopranos together, all of the basses together, etc. – in order to bolster the collective spirit of the choristers. However, those of you who want to sit with friends and still sing may certainly do this as well. If you simply want to come and listen, that’s fine too. There will be room for everyone. Come raise your voice in song as part of our casual Messiah Sing-Along, this year being held at the Upper Arlington Lutheran Church at Mill Run.

On Saturday and Sunday we will offer a wonderfully traditional program that will make you feel at “home for the holidays” in the world of classical music. We will combine the best of the Baroque era with marvelous new works by the incomparable John Rutter.

The Lancaster Chorale will be featured, as will ProMusica’s principal flute Katherine DeJongh and our own harpsichordist Aya Hamada.

The first half of these concerts will begin with selections from Handel’s cherished Water Music and a Bach Orchestra Suite, including his famous “Air”. The Lancaster Chorale will then join us for Vivaldi’s opening “Gloria” from his grand full work of the same name, as well as music from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and Bach’s glorious Christmas Oratorio.

The second half of the program will start with Rutter’s charming Suite Antique for flute and harpsichord, a work inspired by Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #5. This splendid musical offering melds Baroque-inspired melodies with upbeat jazz-inspired tunes. I am confident that you will truly enjoy this relatively unknown gem.

You will most definitely enjoy John Rutter’s ever popular settings of Away in the Manger, Good Christians All Rejoice, and O Holy Night. Concluding the program will be Handel’s thrilling Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, in Mozart’s orchestration.

Share the Holiday spirit! Invite friends to join you for these programs. Give the gift of music – offer tickets to ProMusica as early holiday presents. You most certainly will want to fill your hearts with the majestic sounds of this festive time of the year, as never before has ProMusica offered a program of this kind. We are so very excited about the wonderful opportunity we have to usher in your holidays with music that will lift your spirits.

Then it will be off to another New Year, where we will celebrate as they do in Vienna. The Radetzsky March will start a concert of “Music for Royalty.”

We are all richly blessed by the gifts of music.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Cheers,