No area choir — big or small — offers more artistically adventurous and ambitious concerts than the Boulder-based Ars Nova Singers.
That includes its always anticipated holiday offering, which dependably puts the accent on historical and geographical diversity and never fails to incorporate local premieres and obscure gems from the past that surprise even connoisseurs.
This year’s program, which continues for two more performances Thursday and Friday in Denver and Boulder respectively, is a case in point.
Sure, the 35-voice a cappella ensemble ended with fresh arrangements of a handful of familiar carols, such as “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
But those came only after the choir traveled from the Renaissance to the 20th century and sang in four languages, presenting an extraordinary array of works by great, if not always widely known choral composers, ranging from Heinrich Schütz to John Tavener.
For the first time, the choir, which usually performs in churches, appeared Saturday evening in the 225-seat Hamilton Hall at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. (It was hosting different holiday programs in all three of its venues, creating a minor traffic jam near its parking garage.)
Impressions were mixed. The Hamilton has none of the Christmas-card charm of the 89-year-old St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boulder, where the choir typically kicks off its yule concerts, and it offers little opportunity for processions or candelit singing. But the hall does boast superior acoustics, which handsomely showcased the choir.
Indeed, Ars Nova has never sounded better. The group has one of its strongest rosters ever, and under the leadership of founding artistic director Thomas Edward Morgan, it performed with first-rate intonation and precision. (The only blip Saturday was an uncharacteristic false start to an all-male version of Jacob Handl’s “Confirma hoc Deus.”)
But equally important as technique, if not more so, is the commendable commitment and insight that the choir brought to this wide-ranging and highly challenging repertoire.
Highlights included a moving, subtly blended version of “O Magnum Mysterium,” by Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, and a vibrant performance of Hugo Distler’s multipart Chorale Variations on “Lo, How a Rose.”
The only blot on the evening was Morgan’s odd decision to twice show off some iPhone software, which, combined with amplification, allows one singer to sound like a choir.
However nifty that gadget might be, it seems out of place when he has at his disposal a real, flesh-and-blood choir that can still outdo any sound technology, however sophisticated.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675
“HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: CHRISTMAS WITH ARS NOVA.”
Choral music. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Bethany Lutheran Church, 4500 E. Hampden Ave., Denver, and 7:30 p.m. Friday, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1419 Pine St., Boulder. The Boulder-based Ars Nova Singers present an adventurous program of choral masterworks from the Renaissance and 20th century, as well as a handful of fresh arrangements of familiar carols. $20, $15 seniors, $10 students and $5 youth. 303-499-3165 or
