Diablo Choral Artists, an East Bay community chorus now in its 27th year, will present a concert of festive holiday music - along with sing-along opportunities - on Dec. 13 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Pleasant Hill and on Dec. 15 at St Stephen Catholic Church in Walnut Creek. Mark Tuning is the Music Director, and John R.S. Walko is the accompanist.
The choir will perform music spanning the centuries, from Renaissance composers Palestrina, Jacob Handl, and Praetorius in the 16th century, to Mendelssohn in the 19th century, to a new musical setting of a traditional carol text by Stephen Paulus, and inspiring arrangements of gospel songs and spirituals by Shawn Kirchner and Moses Hogan. The program will include beloved gems such as “Carol of the Bells,” as well as delightful newer arrangements of standards such as “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “The Holly and the Ivy,” and “I Wonder as I Wander.” The audience will be invited to sing along with some well-loved Christmas carols.
This concert will also mark the beginning of the choir’s “Oratorio Project,” a plan to perform excerpts from oratorios with beautiful music too often neglected because a full oratorio performance is an all-consuming project for a community chorus. The choir will begin this project with the Nativity portion of Mendelssohn’s unfinished oratorio, “Christus,” and will perform the Passion portion of that oratorio at the choir’s concerts on May 1 and 3, 2020. The Project will culminate with a performance of excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah” in December 2021.
Tickets are available through the choir’s website (dcachorus.org), from choir members, and at the door (cash or check only).