{"id":15416,"date":"2025-12-04T02:05:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-valley-chorus-debuts-patchwork-holiday-concert-with-a-twist-on-the-classics\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:48:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:48:02","slug":"mancos-valley-chorus-debuts-patchwork-holiday-concert-with-a-twist-on-the-classics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-valley-chorus-debuts-patchwork-holiday-concert-with-a-twist-on-the-classics\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos Valley Chorus debuts \u2018patchwork\u2019 holiday concert with a twist on the classics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Members
Members of the Mancos Valley Chorus rehearse at the Mancos United Methodist Church during their final practice before this year\u2019s holiday concerts. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On an evening when temperatures plummeted and a snow trickled in, long after streets went dark, some 25 singers gathered closely \u2013 trying all to fit next to a massive Christmas aspen.<\/p>\n

Inside the Mancos United Methodist Church, singers flipped through sheet music while their director gave a cue, beginning a surprising arrangement of \u201cDeck the Halls\u201d set to a Tchaikovsky track.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew
Matthew Johnson plays trumpet during a run-through of the evening set list as the Mancos Valley Chorus prepares for Sunday\u2019s concert at Mancos United Methodist Church and a string of performances this season. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Singers
Singers blend familiar Christmas carols and classical music while Karen Higuera plays the piano. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Laughter, a bit of instruction and plenty of tunes carried the Mancos Valley Chorus on Tuesday evening as the ensemble put final touches on a \u201cpatchwork\u201d Christmas program, showing for free this season in Mancos and Cortez events.<\/p>\n

Director Maggie Gillette, who joined the chorus as a singer before taking over leadership in 2019, said nearly every selection this year merges a familiar Christmas tune.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single song is some kind of mashup of at least more than one Christmas song,\u201d Gillette said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing \u2018Let It Snow\u2019 \u2018Winter Wonderland.\u2019 We\u2019re doing Christmas carols mixed with classical music. We\u2019ve got a Santa medley, and \u2018Happy Holidays\u2019 is mashed up with \u2018White Christmas.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the ambitious pieces is a French carol suite that folds together five or six traditional melodies. Gillette said the group sings a very short section in French. But it isn\u2019t so much about being the best; at its core, the group is about support, community and connection through music.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a very supportive group,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s not people who are like this guy or you know, we\u2019re very connected and united by all of that and we just really want to share the joy of singing with our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have worked really hard,\u201d said choir secretary Becky Walker. \u201cThe chorus is literally made up of people who love to sing and are willing and able to commit to two-hour evening rehearsals once a week, for three months before each concert season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker said the nonprofit chorus has run for nearly three decades on this spirit, and is a an inclusive group that\u2019s not church based but includes members of wide age ranges, from participants in their teens to age 88.<\/p>\n

They perform a spring and Christmas concert series each year. They typically host concerts in churches, because the space is provided for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone is welcome to join, many of the members do not read music and learn the songs through rehearsals and practice tapes during the week,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s rehearsal, soloists stepped forward and practiced sets they chose because it meant something. The moment provides a small glimpse of a singer\u2019s beloved memory or a dedication to a favorite singer or songwriter.<\/p>\n

\"Soloists
Soloists practiced a mashup of Christmas-beloved \u201cSilent Night,\u201d adding personal notes to the chorus\u2019s larger holiday show. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alex
Alex George performs a solo Tuesday evening. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Director
Director Maggie Gillette cues singers through a high note Tuesday. She has directed since 2019. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Concerts are 3 p.m. Sunday at Mancos United Methodist Church, 7 p.m. Dec. 10 at Cortez United Methodist Church on Park Street, and for the hometown grand finale, 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Mancos United Methodist Church on Grand Avenue.<\/p>\n

In addition, the chorus is performing carols around the community and caroling this Friday at the annual Christmas tree Lighting on Grand Avenue and Mancos Rudolph Fun Run that starts at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

When Gillette took over directing, a short time later the pandemic hit, but the choir returned in spring 2021. The chorus, she emphasized, is meant to be for anyone who loves to sing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be classically trained,\u201d Gillette said. \u201cThere are a few trained musicians, a few who picked up things in choir, and some people where it\u2019s their very first time. And it\u2019s OK, they work really hard and they blend right in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chorus was established in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecial thanks to our sound guy, Philip Walters, and our pianist, Karen Higuera, for their contribution to making it all work and sound great,\u201d Walker said. \u201cThanks to the businesses and individuals in the community who have supported the Mancos Valley Chorus through the last 27 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Karen
Karen Higuera\u2019s hands quickly dance across the keys. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Karen
Karen Higuera plays and sings \u201cmerry Christmas, Darling\u201d by The Carpenters, with a soft and beautiful voice mirroring the track sung by lead Karen Carpenter. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 27-year choir tradition returns with layered voices, familiar melodies of seasonal favorites <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15416"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19646,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15416\/revisions\/19646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15416"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}