It’s all about tradition for a choral group preparing to entertain audiences with two concerts this week.
The Foothills Philharmonic Chorus has concocted an arrangement of Christmas classics and songs from popular holiday movies for its Christmas Pops concert.
“Christmas Pops is a very popular concert format for a lot of symphony orchestras and choruses,” said director Tim Korthuis. “It’s all about traditional Christmas songs and songs that you might hear in the stores and in Christmas movies.”
The show will be held at the High River Christian Reform Church on Dec. 9 and the Okotoks United Church on Dec. 10.
Both concerts start at 7 p.m. The two-hour event will feature guest performances by the Foothills Philharmonic Chamber Chorus and the new Foothills Philharmonic Jazz Chorus, and will invite the audience to join in some classic carols like Silent Night and Come All Ye Faithful, Korthuis said.
“We’ll be switching back and forth from the chorus singing to the audience singing and then the chamber chorus will step forward,” he said. “We will start with some upbeat songs and then bring it to more of an intimate setting that draws people in and then another upbeat one. If you do 40 minutes in a row of quiet intimate music it’s beautiful but it can also get sleepy. We will keep it changing.”
Korthuis said the chamber chorus, which consists of a small group of singers from the philharmonic chorus who tackle more challenging pieces, will perform an arrangement of Here We Come A-wassailing by the vocal group Pentatonix.
The 16-member jazz chorus, formed this year, will sing four jazz arrangements of classic Christmas pieces, he said.
The philharmonic chorus itself will sing some traditional carols, holiday pieces from classics like Home Alone and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and a historical musical journey through the 12 Days of Christmas arranged in different musical styles throughout history, said Korthuis.
“We pride ourselves on really strong harmonies and really unique and complex arrangements,” he said. “There are a lot of wonderfully unique arrangements that we’re doing here.”
Among the pieces is Joy to the World, which begins beautifully with classic big cords and then the altos and sopranos start singing like bells, said Korthuis.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” he said. “The basses and tenors come in and sing while these altos are still doing these little bells in the background.”
Korthuis said the chorus has been rehearsing weekly since September to prepare for its third Christmas concert and hopes to bring its audiences into the spirit of the fast-approaching season.
Christmas Pops will bring some members of the audience back to the days of school productions, church concerts and other Christmas celebrations, said Korthuis.
“It’s part of tradition with most people,” he said. “So much of it reminds people of their past or it reminds people of the joy that they remember from Christmas in the past. If they’re not singing at home most people will have traditional Christmas music they put on.”
Tickets to attend Christmas Pops cost $20 for adults and $15 for teens and seniors. Children ages 12 and under are free. A portion of the proceeds will go to Foothills Search and Rescue.
Tickets can be purchased at Sobeys or foothillphilharmonic.com
Snacks will be available for purchase during the intermission.
