“Brr! the night is so cold!
Brr! How warm is your cloak!”
The Orcas Choral Society sang those words in the most heartfelt concert ever last night, but, as of 11 a.m. Sunday morning, the second concert at the Orcas Center at 2 p.m. was canceled. “On With the Snow” (and singing) seemed to be the spirit of last night’s performance, but thanks to the severe weather, we can’t go on with the show today. We’re so disappointed.
For 31 years, the Winter Concert has been an Orcas tradition, yet there were many in attendance last night for the first time. They got to see and hear the Choral Society sing old favorites such as White Christmas, While Shepherds Watched, and Rudloph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and sing along to Deck the Hall, O Christmas Tree, and Jingle Bells.
From the choir, there were so many highlights — the New England-purity of Stan Miller and Denise Babcock’s solos in Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, the spirited and multi-chorded piano duets of Terri Triplett and Patty Johnson, the call to triumph of the brass accompanists.
But for me, I’d single out the transcendence of Silent Night, sung with the audience. There often comes moments in special concerts where the director, the choir and the audience are elevated by the hopes and cares of all to unify in one beautiful agreement that there are no differences between us, that we all live in a world of generosity, forgiveness and good will. That’s what love is, and that’s what Christmas is all about.
On a more “grounded” note, when we sang the medley of Let it Snow it was pure pleasure to look out into the audience and see friends and loved ones and sing “The weather outside is frightful… but as long as you love me so, let it snow.”
Which reminds me of another special moment in a concert that was a perfectly-woven tapestry of special moments — Christmas Kumbaya, which combined hallelujahs in a lullaby. Here, where so many of us are retirees and elders, it was such soothing and simple pleasure to sing a lullaby to a baby and celebrate his birth.
John Heath’s exuberant solo in a remembrance of Chanukah also celebrated the Choral Society’s respect for all cultures and beliefs that is incorporated into much of Catherine Pederson’s programming and direction.
This was my eighth Choral Society Winter Concert. It’s become the highlight of my Christmas celebrations, and I’m sorry that those who were unable to make it last night will miss this special concert.
