By Malcolm Halliday
On Saturday, December 17, at 2pm and 5pm, Chorale San Miguel under the direction of highly acclaimed conductor and Artistic Director Malcolm Halliday presents an uplifting Concierto de Navidad (Christmas concert) featuring music for the season, including Benjamin Britten’s enchanting “Ceremony of Carols,” accompanied by the nationally recognized harpist Betuel Ramírez and Camille Saint-Saëns «Oratorio de Noël,” a charming work scored for a quintet of soloists with a semi-professional choir, string orchestra, organ, and harp.
In 1942, while crossing the Atlantic from the U.S. to England in a Swedish cargo ship with the danger of encountering ever-present German U-boats, the English composer Benjamin Britten was inspired by the collection “The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems” to write a sequence of carol settings scored for harp and treble voices. To a friend he wrote after his arrival that he wrote the “Seven Christmas Carols” “to alleviate the boredom!” This earliest version of what was to become one of the most popular choral works for Christmas in the English language was later expanded to include a harp interlude as well as the plainsong chant “Hodie Christus natus est.” In addition to a sprinkling of Latin, the other carol texts bespeak antiquity, with some texts even taken from middle English with arcane spellings in some cases reminiscent of Anglo Saxon and Germanic origins. Nevertheless, the carols sound fresh and even modern with Britten’s remarkable ear and tonal sense for what was possible with the choir and sonorities of the harp. The chorale will perform the sanctioned version for SATB choir, produced by the composer Julius Harrison.
The “Oratorio de Noël, Op. 12,” by Camille Saint-Saëns, also known as his “Christmas Oratorio,” is a cantata-like work scored for soloists, chorus, organ, strings, and harp. While organist at the famous church La Madeleine, Saint-Saëns wrote the “Christmas Oratorio” in less than a fortnight, completing it 10 days before its premiere on Christmas Day 1858. The vocal score of this elegantly reflective yet lyrical oratorio was prepared later by the composer and organist Eugene Gigout, a colleague of Saint-Saëns. Nationally celebrated soloists include soprano Kristell San Germán, mezzo-soprano Karen Badillo, contralto Vanessa Jara, tenor Francisco Mendoza, and baritone Rodrigo Yurahi.
Like the Chorale’s recent successful concerts for Día de los Muertos, the Christmas concerts will take place in the splendid Templo (“Capilla”) de la Tercera Orden at the corner of San Francisco and Juarez. Proceeds from the performances will benefit the Chorale’s project to bring a splendid 1875 Johnson & Sons pipe organ to this austere yet beautiful 17th century Franciscan chapel, which has some of the best acoustics in San Miguel for choral music.
Tickets are available online by visiting the Chorale San Miguel website at choralesanmiguel.com or can be purchased with cash at the Tienda Tesoros bookstore at La Biblioteca or at the Tercera Orden office located on another side of the park in front of the Church of San Francisco.
Christmas Concert
Chorale San Miguel
Saturday, December 17, at 2pm and 5pm
Templo de la Tercera Orden
Tickets at Tienda Tesoros bookstore at La Biblioteca
