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| James Nathanial Holland 11/11/1966 |
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| Carl Maria von Weber 11/18/1786 |
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Mark Your Calendars
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12/7/2019
Holiday Concert, Rockbridge Chorus
and Rockbridge Youth Chorale, 7:30 PM,
Lexington
Presbyterian Church.
Community Caroling
begins at 7:15.
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1/12/2020
Rockbridge Chorus
extends the holiday season with Vaughan Williams
Hodie and
Saint-Saens Oratorio de Noel,
3 PM,
Lexington
Presbyterian Church.
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4/14/2020
Rockbridge Youth Chorale, Spring Concert,
7 PM,
Lexington
Presbyterian Church
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4/18/2020
Rockbridge Chorus,
Spring Pops Concert,
7 PM
Lexington
Presbyterian Church
featuring
Josh Harvey
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Extending Christmas
No, we are not talking about the Christmas inventory that has been appearing in stores since before we could scrape the frost off the pumpkins still on our porches. This holiday does have an extended season both before and after December 25. There is advent before and epiphany after. This season, the
Rockbridge Chorus and Youth Chorale will touch both sides of the holiday with its usual concert in early December, and then in January the chorus will present Camille Saint-Saens'
Oratorio de Noel and Ralph Vaughan Williams Christmas cantata,
Hodie (This Day).
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Vaugh-Williams
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Composed between 1953 and 1954, the
Hodie is Vaugh-Williams last major choral-orchestral composition and it is a superb synthesis of this composer's entire
artistic career. It was not well received by critics who thought the work too primitive, too simple and too direct. It apparently failed in comparison to the new sounds of the time coming from Benjamin Britten and cohorts. But audiences liked it, and critics since have been more generous finding it reflective of Vaughan-Williams overall catalog of choral music. As with many of his works, the composer scored the
Hodie for tenor, baritone soloists, boys' choir, mixed choir and orchestra.
In addition to our December offering, the Rockbridge Chorus is pleased to present this work at the end of the Christmas season on January 12, 2020. Look forward to this lovely choral from the Hodie. Listen now. The words of verse 1 are taken from a poem of anonymous authorship. The composer's wife provided the words of the second verse.
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'Tis The Season -
for Giving and a
Tax Right-Off
The Rockbridge Choral Society is grateful beyond words for the support of our singing members, audiences and donors. Every season you keep us singing with your dues, your ticket purchases and your generous donations of time, talent, and money. We cannot do it without you!
Our concert in January will feature a number of professional musicians and soloists. Once again we are putting our very successful Adopt a Musician program up front to ask you to help underwrite these players and singers who make our performances so special. Our artistic director has recruited 3 soloists at $1,000 each, 4 ringer-singers at $350 each (average), and an organist at $1500 (already funded!). If you are a chorus singer, combine your giving efforts with others in your section to fund these ringer-singers who improve our ranks and our sound! There's power in numbers! The Adopt A Musician program is a popular part of our fund-raising campaign each season because it enables donors to give directly to this effort. If you have contributed in the past, thank you! And, we hope you will do so again! We welcome and thank in advance any new contributors to this vital part of our fundraising effort! The Rockbridge Choral Society is a qualified 501(c)(3) organization, so all donations are tax deductible.
If you can help, please contact our treasurer, Larry Evans (bass section leader), for information
larryevans223@gmail.com or donate through our website,
http://www.rcs.org/adopt-a-musician and thank you.
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The Ridiculist
Frank Loesser's 1949 Oscar winning standard, "Baby It's Cold Outside" from the film
Neptune's Daughter, is never far from controversy. The song is 70 years old and it is still the subject of argument over its lyrics. The song makes no mention of the holiday but it is generally considered a Christmas season standard. A new version is out November 8 with John Legend and Kelly Clarkson singing this duet between a man and a woman bantering about whether to part for the evening. There's wind and snow and alcohol and a fire and should she stay or should she go.
Good Morning America headlined its recent web story, "John Legend's controversial rewrite of 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' is here," and referenced the new track as a "politically correct duet." So maybe this gives radio stations permission to feel better about keeping the song on the play list - or not. We will see. Here's 2019's version.
Listen here
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