\u201cPeople stop me in the aisle,\u201d Mack Berven said. \u201cPeople literally stop me all year long. They ask if the Choral Society is going to sing \u2018O Holy Night\u2019 again with Gemma Kavanagh in our Traditional Family Christmas Concert. People love the music, and people love Gemma. So, yes, we\u2019re performing \u2018O Holy Night\u2019 again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 3 p.m. Dec. 2, the Durango Choral Society and its familial ensembles, plus the Durango Jazz Combo, will present a warm, feel-good holiday concert in the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything from the sublime to the ridiculous,\u201d Mack Berven said, \u201cand a lot of what I call \u2018Oh, yeah\u2019 music that\u2019s familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n
The concert will open with everyone, including audience members, singing a favorite Christmas hymn: \u201cJoy to the World.\u201d If that doesn\u2019t wake up the neighborhood, the Choral Society will shake the walls with the FLC Percussion Ensemble in a rousing African chant: \u201cBethelehemu.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mack Berven slipped this tune into the program as a way of marking her 20th anniversary with the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sang this piece years ago with John Pennington and his percussion students,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone loved it. So now, John O\u2019Neal and his students will be joyously drumming. It\u2019s a perfect opening to the program.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1999, Mack Berven, who was singing in the group and teaching at FLC, was invited to lead the Choral Society.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur first concert together was right around the corner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mack Berven plunged in as artistic director and conductor. Now, after many concerts, international choral trips, two national awards for programming, several world premieres and a general expansion of the organization, she continues to be a tireless, gifted and exuberant cultural leader in our community.<\/p>\n
Now, her organization has four performing ensembles: The Durango Choral Society, Women\u2019s Choir, Youth Chorus and Children\u2019s Chorale. The December family concert has grown to be a showcase for each, and works will be presented in combination.<\/p>\n
The Durango Children\u2019s Chorale and Youth Chorus, headed by Amy Barrett and Robin Randolph, will follow the African chant and conclude with a bell set. The Women\u2019s Choir and Youth Chorus will sing the beautiful, \u201cGesu Bambino,\u201d a natural lead into Kavanagh\u2019s by now historically memorable solo in Adolphe Adam\u2019s arrangement of \u201cO Holy Night.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Durango Jazz Combo will take the stage and perform Mel Torme\u2019s \u201cChristmas Song,\u201d followed by even lighter fare \u2013 \u201cFrosty the Snowman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mack Berven\u2019s promise of \u201cthe ridiculous\u201d arrives when the Choral Society sing-snarls \u201cYou\u2019re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santa\u2019s doppelganger (the always friendly and utterly reliable Steve Blaylock) will definitely make an appearance. Family photos may be taken with Santa before and after the concert for free. Bring your own camera.<\/p>\n
To close the concert and mark her 20th year, Mack Berven has invited choral alumni to sing Handel\u2019s \u201cHallelujah Chorus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll still have to buy a ticket,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve reached out in various ways, but if anyone learns about singing the \u2018Hallelujah Chorus\u2019 here, email me: lindamack14@gmail. Shauna Blaylock can even send out the music electronically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime choral experience.<\/p>\n
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.<\/em><\/p>\n WHAT:<\/strong> \u201cPeople stop me in the aisle,\u201d Mack Berven said. \u201cPeople literally stop me all year long. They ask if the Choral Society is going to sing \u2018O Holy Night\u2019 again with Gemma Kavanagh in our Traditional Family Christmas Concert. People love the music, and people love Gemma. So, yes, we\u2019re performing \u2018O Holy Night\u2019 again […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5252,559],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-63812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-classical-music","tag-music"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63812","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=63812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63812"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=63812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}If you go<\/h4>\n
\n \u201cA Traditional Family Christmas,\u201d The Durango Choral Society, Women\u2019s Choir, Youth Chorus and Children\u2019s Chorale, Linda Mack Berven, artistic director and conductor. With Amy Barrett, Robin Randolph, Durango Jazz Combo, soloists and accompanist Christi Livingston.
\n WHEN:<\/strong>
\n 3 p.m. Dec. 2.
\n WHERE:<\/strong>
\n Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
\n TICKETS:<\/strong>
\n $20 general, $18 students, $5 children. Available online at www.durangoconcerts.com, at The Welcome Center, by phone at 247-7657 and at the door.
\n MORE INFORMATION:<\/strong>
\n Visit www.durangochoralsociety.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"