Musical Mount Holyoke will be in full voice December 6 for the annual Christmas vespers performances. Some of the College's singers who will perform at vespers are shown here at a recent interfaith religious service.
Annual Christmas concerts at Mount Holyoke can be documented all the way back to 1899, and this year's concerts will carry on the tradition Sunday, December 6, according to Catharine Melhorn, professor of music and choral director.
Concerts of organ and choral music, especially carols from around the world, were presented by the Glee Club and class choirs in a format virtually unchanged for almost fifty years. In 1971, Melhorn introduced most of the elements of today's vespers concert: the candlelight chant processional, seasonal choral works performed by the Concert Choir, Glee Club, and Chamber Singers; the participation of student-led ensembles (this year there are two bell choirs and Voices of Faith), brass and organ preludes, and carols for the audience to sing.
It's a big undertaking; Melhorn says that this year there will be 191 student participants. Musical selections will range from new settings of traditional carol texts (such as Kenneth Jennings's "O Little Town of Bethlehem") to an Italian Baroque work by the recently discovered female composer Chiara Margarita Cozzolani to African American spirituals.
Angels will feature prominently in the texts, as the Glee Club will send members of Coro Mount Holyoke to Florida in January to present a special concert in conjunction with the Norton Museum's exhibition Angels from the Vatican.
The Chamber Singers will premiere a new work by Professor of Music Allen Bonde, a setting of a poem by Lecturer in English Mary Jo Salter that was translated into Spanish by Professor of Spanish Alberto Castilla. This model of interdepartmental collaboration was sparked by Catharine Melhorn's notion that the lilting, Latin American feel of Bonde's music would be enhanced, especially when performed on tour in Costa Rica this January, by Spanish lyrics.
The acoustics and beauty of Abbey Chapel--decorated with red poinsettias and greenery--and the usually full-to-overflowing attendance at the vespers concerts, make the event especially festive. Seating in Abbey Chapel is limited for these popular events; doors open thirty-five minutes before the 4 and 7:30 pm performances.
The entire vespers concert will be repeated in New York City at St. Bartholomew's Church December 11.
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