St. Paul's Episcopal Church 
 Join us for our Holiday Music Series

We cordially invite you to celebrate this joyous season with us!
Come join us and be surrounded by the beauty of holiday music and hear these extraordinary concerts and richly talented musicians!
Schedule of Concerts
Sunday, December 8, 2019
4:00 pm

Music by the prolific Baroque master Antonio Vivaldi highlights this year’s holiday “Star-Made Shadows” concerts by the Cantemus Chamber Chorus, under the direction of Jane Ring Frank. The core of the concerts is Vivaldi’s Magnificat in G minor, a setting of the Canticle of Mary for chorus, soloists, strings and organ that offered the composer the opportunity to explore a wide range of musical expression across its nine movements. Also on the program is his forceful setting of Psalm 116, Laudate Dominum, a work Jane Ring Frank describes as “a little but mighty piece of music.” A string quartet of two violins, viola and cello will accompany the chorus, joined by guest artists Alecia Batson and Heather Gallagher, sopranos, and bass Jeremy Satchell. 

More contemporary works on the program include Peter Anglea’s jaunty Jubilate Deo and Phil Mattson’s playful re-imagining of some familiar carols of the season. Two pieces by the young Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, a Cantemus favorite, convey his sweeping vision: Tundra and Across the Vast Eternal Sky. Finally, the chorus offers Morten Lauridsen’s haunting, deeply moving setting of James Agee’s poem Sure on This Shining Night, which has become an audience favorite over the years. 
Friday, December 13, 2019
7:00 pm

2018 marked the 100th anniversary of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, held annually at King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England. To celebrate this centenary, Skylark Artistic Director Matthew Guard and colleagues in Cambridge meticulously researched the history of this service and the angelic music that has graced its Christmas broadcasts over the last century.

After four packed performances in 2018, Skylark will reprise this stunning program (with some exciting new additions!), presenting beloved carols that connect our audiences to one hundred years of celebrations of the holiday spirit. Artistic Director Matthew Guard will offer a pre-concert talk beginning at 6:15 pm.
Sunday, December 15, 2019
3:00 PM

The winter concert starts with a favorite by the master himself, J.S. Bach. The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor is a virtuosic tour-de-force and for that we needed a special keyboard player. I’m delighted we obtained the services of Michael Sponseller whom some of you might recognize from Handel and Haydn Society or Boston Early Music.

After Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy, we head south from Germany to Venice and the music of Vivaldi. Nurit Pacht is back to lead the full ensemble in “Summer” from the Four Seasons ( Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8) . By December it might be chilly so I hope this provides a warming whiff of nostalgia.

As we did last year, the winter concert will mix together smaller works with larger pieces. We have a violin sonata by Handel ( Sonata Op.1, No. 5) , a cello sonata by Geminiani ( Sonata in A Minor, Opus 5, Number 6) , and a harpsichord sonata by Scarlatti ( Sonata in B Minor) .

The final work we are performing is Corelli’s Christmas Concerto ( Concerto No.8 in G minor 'Fatto per la notte di Natale’). Part of what makes this a Christmas work is that it ends with a very beautiful  pastorale , a reference to the shepherds of Bethlehem tending their flocks on that fateful night a star appeared in the sky.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church | 166 High Street | Newburyport, MA 01950
978-465-5351
stpauls@stpauls-nbpt.org