If singing “Jingle Bells” doesn’t ring your chimes, try another holiday show in town.
Three of the area’s premier choral groups – Kantorei, Ars Nova Singers and St. Martin’s Chamber Choir – offer alternative musical fare for more classically minded music-lovers.
“Our holiday concert is a combination of what’s familiar and what’s not,” said Timothy Krueger, founder and artistic director of St. Martin’s 22-voice unaccompanied ensemble. “We lean toward the underperformed Christmas works. There will be a few carol arrangements too, but definitely no ‘Jingle Bells.”‘
Specifically, St. Martin’s program, “Gloria in Excelsis … ,” will feature ancient and modern works with the word “gloria” as a unifying theme – from the world premiere of “Music for the Victims of Our Earth,” composed by Denver’s John White in the wake of last year’s Asian tsunami and in memory of all who have perished in natural disasters since then, to Francis Poulenc’s “Four Christmas Motets.”
“The Christmas motets are really wonderful pieces that are tough to perform,” Krueger said. “The score is harmonically lush with unexpected harmonic shifts. It’s very haunting, and sometimes each voice is singing a distinct line.”
The professional choir will also perform J.A.C. Redford’s “Shepherd Story,” recounting Jesus’ birth.
“Redford is a Hollywood composer who contacted us after he heard us sing Terry Schlenker’s Mass for choir on a Los Angeles public radio broadcast,” Krueger said. “He’s written music for over 500 TV episodes and for movies like ‘Driving Miss Daisy.’
“He looked up our website and sent us ‘Shepherd Story,’ which ends with a very loud ‘Glory to God in the highest.”‘
St. Martin’s has produced seven CDs, including “A Marian Christmas.” The group’s latest recording, “Monastic Echoes,” will be released in time for sale at the upcoming concerts.
“The main benefit of a smaller group is the intimate quality of the musicmaking, the highly polished nature of it,” Krueger said. “You can achieve very subtle dynamics and articulation changes. You can approach things with a fine tuning, instead of a hammer blow.
Krueger started the group in 1993.
“I felt it was time for Denver to have a choir that approached the chamber aesthetic where each singer could hold his or her part,” he said. “Our name has four words in it, and ‘chamber’ is the most important word.”
Thomas Morgan, artistic director of the Boulder-based Ars Nova Singers, agrees.
“A smaller groups allows for a great deal of flexibility to perform music from the early ages as well as contemporary works,” he said.
“When we started Ars Nova in 1986, we saw a need in the community for an ensemble that could set high musical standards and put high demands on singers who are trained musicians on the level of instrumentalists in an orchestra.
Morgan said the group decided not to focus much on the baroque and romantic eras, since that niche was already filled by other outfits. “Instead, our repertoire tends more toward the polyphony of the Renaissance, where everyone has a melody most of the time,” he said.
He re-auditions the 40 members of the semiprofessional choir every two years. “It’s a way to give new people in the community an equal chance to participate, and it also encourages the current members to keep their skills up,” he said.
Another advantage to independent groups like Ars Nova, St. Martin’s and Kantorei is artistic freedom.
“We can take artistic risks without the pressure of marketing,” Morgan said. “I have total control over our programming.
“There’s a lot of choral music available from the 14th through the 17th centuries that’s not often performed, but there’s a lot more variety there than the general public realizes.”
The group’s eclectic holiday concert – “Midwinter: Christmas With Ars Nova” – is a departure from its usual programming.
“Our regular concerts are often focused on one composer, like Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ that we’ll be performing with the Frequent Flyers aerial dancers in May,” Morgan said. “But this holiday program is a retrospective over 20 years, including the Colorado premiere of an interesting concerto for oboe and chorus by a Belgian composer.”
In addition to Vic Nees’ “Concerto per la Beata Virgine,” featuring oboist James Brody, the Ars Nova holiday program includes music for medieval and Renaissance instruments like krummhorns and recorders.
“We’ll close with a set of traditional and nontraditional carols,” Morgan said. “From Benjamin Britten’s ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter’ to some of my arrangements.”
Meanwhile, Kantorei – a 36-voice choir directed by Richard Larson – will also present a mélange of old and new, contrasting Vaughan Williams with Nigerian Christmas carols, John Paynter’s “The Rose” and Kenneth Leighton’s “A Hymn of the Nativity.”
“Kantorei has broad appeal because of the variety and range of our a cappella programs,” said Larson. “Our approach explores the innards of music, especially new works.”
Choral performances
Area choral groups will perform several times over the next couple of weeks. Here are the details.
ARS NOVA SINGERS|Today at St. Elizabeth’s Church, 1060 St. Francis Way (Auraria campus); Sunday at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1419 Pine Street, Boulder|$12-$20|303-499-3165 or arsnovasingers.org
KANTOREI|7:30 p.m., Dec. 16 at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1600 Grant St.; Dec. 18 at Bethany Lutheran Church, 4500 E. Hampden|$10-$15|303-316-0356 or kantorei.org
ST. MARTIN’S CHAMBER CHOIR|7:30 p.m., Dec. 16, Broomfield Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road; Dec. 17 at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1600 Grant Street; Dec. 18 at St. Elizabeth’s Church, 1060 St. Francis Way (Auraria campus)|$10-$18|303-298-1970 or stmartinschamberchoir.org
