Christmas Concert: Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio
& French carols — Saturday, December 11, 8:00 p.m.
& Sunday, December 12, 4:00 p.m.
Chamber Choir Concert: Bach Cantatas with Mallarmé Chamber Players — Sunday, February 6, 3:00 p.m.
Winter Concert: Bruckner Mass in E Minor, Hindemith Apparebit repentina dies, Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms — Sunday, February 27, 4:00 p.m.
Spring Concert: Haydn Creation Mass, Nielsen Springtime on Funen — Saturday, May 7, 8:00 p.m.
Our concert facilities are wheelchair-accessible.
For information about other choral music events and activities in the Triangle area, visit TriangleSings.
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Christmas Concert
Saint-Saëns: Christmas Oratorio
& French carols
with strings & harp, Rodney Wynkoop conducting
Saturday, December 11, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 12, 4:00 p.m.
Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC
$20 Adults, students admitted free
Celebrate the holiday season in atmospheric Duke Chapel, where we present our first-ever performance of the Christmas Oratorio (Oratorio de Nöel) by Camille Saint-Saëns. One of the composer’s early works, it is consciously modeled on the Christmas Oratorio of J. S. Bach, though neoclassical in style. The closing hymn of praise, “Tollite Hostias,” is beloved of church choirs worldwide. Complementing the oratorio, we present a selection of traditional French carols in arrangements by Rutter, Willcocks, Shaw, and others.
Chamber Choir
Joint Concert with Mallarmé Chamber Players
Bach Cantatas
Rodney Wynkoop conducting
Sunday, February 6, 3:00 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC
$18 in advance, $20 at the door
Following on the success of last season’s “Historical Bach” concert, the Choral Society Chamber Choir (Rodney Wynkoop conducting) again joins the Mallarmé Chamber Players for a program featuring cantatas of J. S. Bach: Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß (A heart that knows its living Jesus) and the Funeral Ode for the Queen of Poland and Saxony, Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl (Let, Princess, one more ray). The concert will employ Baroque performance practices and instruments. Last year’s concert sold out, so don’t delay purchasing tickets.
Winter Concert
Bruckner: Mass No. 2 in E Minor
Hindemith: Apparebit repentina dies
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
with orchestra, Rodney Wynkoop conducting
Sunday, February 27, 4:00 p.m.
Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC
$20 Adults, students admitted free
In his Mass in E Minor, for eight-part chorus and winds, Anton Bruckner pays homage to the 16th-century polyphonic tradition in his own modern harmonic language, to produce his first acknowledged masterpiece. Paul Hindemith’s Apparebit Repentina Dies, for chorus and brass, is based on an 8th-century poem describing the Day of Judgment. Unusually scored for chorus, low strings, winds, percussion, two pianos, and harp, Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms is a masterpiece of the composer’s neoclassical period, influenced by Russian Orthodox chant and ranging in mood from solemn to serene.
Spring Concert
Haydn: Creation Mass
Nielsen: Springtime on Funen
with orchestra, Rodney Wynkoop conducting
& the Durham Children’s Choir
Saturday, May 7, 8:00 p.m.
Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC
$20 Adults, students admitted free
We close our season with pair of Choral Society premieres. Haydn’s Creation Mass (Schöpfungmesse), so called because the composer quotes a passage from his Creation oratorio, is one of his six great late masses, representing the pinnacle of his art. Springtime on Funen (Fynsk Forår) is Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s tuneful, folk-tinged tribute to his native island of Fyn (Funen). This cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, labeled “Lyric Humoresque,” greets the coming of spring to the island and portrays the everyday joys of life in the rustic community. The Durham Children’s Chorus will join us in Nielsen’s cantata.
