Susan Osborn Christmas Concerts Start on Lopez & San Juan, then Journey to Victorian Valley

Susan Osborn's magnificent voice will be heard at Christmas Concerts, Dec. 16 and 17 and Dec. 20-23 at Victorian Valley Chapel

Susan Osborn extends an invitation to the public throughout the San Juan Islands for her traditional Christmas concerts, at churches on Lopez and San Juan Islands and at  the Victorian Valley Chapelon Orcas.

Joining Susan on at all concerts will be Carolyn Cruso, hammer dulcimer, guitar, flute and vocals; and Ritambhara Tyson, cello and voice.  Music included in these concerts will be traditional Christmas songs and original seasonal pieces.

Of the Victorian Valley Chapel concerts, which Susan has given for the past 22 years, Susan says, “We all seem to relax more deeply into the quiet of the valley and beauty of the moment together — so many sweet memories of walking out of the candlelit Chapel into the  night under starry skies or snow! at midnight to the sound of the Chapel bell ringing in Christmas.”

Her startlingly remarkable voice — powerful and rich with emotional expression — came to world prominence when she was lead singer of the Paul Winter Consort between 1978 and 1985, shining on such albums as “Common Ground,””Missa Gaia” and “Concert For the Earth.” Osborn’s voice has such power and soulful presence that she’s performed at the United Nations, the Berlin Wall, the Nagano Winter Olympics, the Global Forum in Kyoto and the Hague, and numerous memorial and peace ceremonies at Hiroshima and Post-9/11 New York.

For the past two decades, Osborn and her husband, artist/writer David Densmore, have lived on Orcas Island. She  has performed all over the US and Europe, but 1991 saw the beginning of a long association with Japan, where her voice has been heard on Toyota commercials and film soundtracks, on a two hour HDTV Special on her life for Asahi Television, at the Winter Olympics, in a stage musical Tanuki Goten directed by Amon Miamoto, and New Year’s Eve concerts with both Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, and John Mauceri’s Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Her songs are also featured in several of Jin Tatsumura’s feature length Gaia Symphony films.

This spring she gave a series of concerts on the West Coast to support the efforts of the Japanese people to recover from the effects of the earthquake and tsunami in March.

Stylistically, Osborn’s approach spans original songs, to classical favorites to the freewheeling scat she records with jazz guitarist Ralf Illenberger, to traditional Japanese folk songs. She brings refreshing inspiration to pop and jazz standards and her annual candlelit Victorian Valley Chapel Christmas concert series is an established Orcas Island tradition.

Susan will give concerts on Lopez and San Juan Islands this weekend, followed by concerts at the Victorian Valley Chapel on Orcas Islands from Wednesday, Dec. 21 through Friday Dec. 23,  at 7 p.m. On Christmas Eve there will be two concerts, at 7 and at 10 p.m.

This weekend’s concerts are:

• Friday, Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m., Center Church, Lopez

• Saturday, Dec. 17, 2 p.m., St. David’s Episcopal Church, San Juan

Tickets for Lopez are a suggested donation of $15 for adults, $7.50 for children 12 and under—and lapsitters are free. Reservation coupons are available at Paper Scissors on the Rock.

Friday Harbor ticket prices are the same as for Lopez.

Tickets for Victorian Valley concerts are $20 for adults, $10 for children 12 and under, and lapsitters free. Tickets are available for all concerts online at brownpapertickets.com. They sell quickly, so plan now to be enjoy one of these intimate concerts celebrating the magic and beauty of the season.

Susan said, “We  are all looking forward to gathering with guests again in the Victorian Valley Chapel;  There are still tickets for the concerts and I hope that we will see you there in the valley as we celebrate in song the timeless story of the birth of light in the darkness.”

(www.susanosborn.com)