Music Worcester Celebrates the Holiday Season with Three Concerts in December

The sounds of the season will ring in Central Massachusetts this December as Music Worcester presents three different programs of holiday music. On Friday, December 6th, the Worcester Chamber Music Society plays Bach’s Christmas Cantatas at the First Unitarian Church in Worcester; Saturday December 7th, the Worcester Chorus performs Handel’s Messiah in Mechanics Hall; and Sunday December 22nd the Worcester Chorus Women’s Ensemble performs their annual Holiday Concert at Trinity Lutheran Church.  Tickets are on sale at musicworcester.org.

“We’re celebrating Christmas THREE ways this year,” exclaimed Chris Shepard, the Director of the Worcester Chorus, and Artistic Director of THE COMPLETE BACH (TCB), Music Worcester’s 11-year celebration of the works of J. S. Bach. “We have something for every vocal music lover this Christmas.”

On December 6th The Worcester Chamber Music Society (WCMS), one of the founding members of The Worcester Bach Collective, will perform three of Bach's solo Christmas cantatas as part of THE COMPLETE BACH.  The Collective includes a wide range of musical organizations in Worcester and beyond that will collaborate with TCB over the next 11 years.  “After all, you can’t present all 1000+ works by Bach without a lot of great partners,”  said Shepard.

WCMS will be joined by vocalists Kristen Watson, soprano; Krista River, alto; Matthew Anderson, tenor: and David McFerrin, baritone, for this concert. Shepard, who hosts three different audio series as part of TCB (Bach 101, Chat JSB and Unlocking Boch), will be presenting a pre-concert talk prior to the performance.

The following night, on December 7th, Shepard will be leading one of the area's most beloved annual traditions-the Worcester Chorus' presentation of Handel's Messiah.  The chorus will be joined on stage by vocal soloists Soprano Jennifer Sgroe, Mezzo Soprano Kim Leeds, Tenor Kirk Bobkowski, and Bass-Baritone Jason Zacher, and the Worcester Festival Orchestra. 

Three days before Christmas on Dec.22nd, the Women's Ensemble of the Worcester Chorus, directed by Worcester Chorus Associate Director Mark Mummert, will present a very different expression of Christmas choral music, Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols. “The piece perfectly combines ancient carol texts with Britten's tuneful, quirky and always-accessible 20th century musical language,” said Shepard. In addition, this concert will also include a selection of Christmas classics and holiday sing-a-longs.

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