Choral Concert This Sunday

The St. Paul Cathedral Choir will join with the Crystal Strings this Sunday to present "Music of Advent and Christmas". The concert will begin at 3:00 PM, and will take place (obviously) at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland. The choir will perform works by Paul Manz, Franz Biebl, Martin Shaw, David Willcocks, Harold Darke, Carl Schalk, and John Rutter. And if you are in a singing mood yourself, you can join in on traditional carols such as "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", "Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming", "Good Christian Friends, Rejoice!", and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".

The work by Paul Manz has already been discussed in an earlier post. The Biebl "Ave Maria" is a stunningly beautiful piece of music. The arrangement of "Joy To the World!" by Pittsburgh's own David Willcocks is just enormously powerful. And Rutter's "Christmas Lullaby" is probably my all-time favorite; a recording of it by the Cambridge Singers was the spark which led me back to choral singing after many years away from it.

The concert is free and open to the public. A free-will offering will be taken to benefit the choir's forthcoming tour in Ireland.