The Christmas
season is fast approaching and with it the annual Mount Holyoke
Christmas Vespers Concert, which will be held Sunday, December 5, at
4 pm and 7:30 pm in Abbey Memorial Chapel. There will also be a
performance on Friday, December 10, at 8 pm at Old South Church in
Boston. The doors will open thirty-five minutes before the MHC
performance, and tickets are not required. "The South Hadley
performances are free, but, we will gladly accept donations to Kate's
Kitchen in Holyoke, now rebuilding after a catastrophic fire over the
summer," says Melhorn.
Some two hundred students, nearly 10
percent of the MHC student body, are featured. Performers include the
Glee Club and Chamber Singers, directed by Catharine Melhorn; the
Concert Choir and Cantamus, directed by Christopher Aspaas; Voices of
Faith, led by sophomore Alison Carney; Grace Notes, an English hand
bell choir directed by senior Crys Latham; a solo by College staff
member Ivy Tillman; and a faculty-student ensemble. Also featured
will be College organist Larry Schipull and pianist Mark Gionfriddo.
Richard Wilbur's poem, "A Stable Lamp
is Lighted," provides the theme for this year's concert. This text
will be performed twice, first in a congregational hymn and later, in
a recent setting by David Conte, by the combined choirs. Also
included are three settings of "Ave Maria" and several other songs
about the role of the Virgin Mary in the Nativity, including the
premier of a new piece by MHC professor Allen Bonde.
Bonde's piece, "Annunciation I," is
based on a poem by Mary Jo Salter, Emily Dickinson Lecturer in the
Humanities at MHC, and explores the connection between Mary and Eve.
African American spirituals, a traditional French carol, and a
lighthearted piece about Christmas charity will round out the
program.
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