Christmas concerts slated

Friday, Dec. 14 and Sunday, Dec. 16, are dates to remember for the upcoming free concerts of the Pend Oreille Chorale and Orchestra. Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Sandpoint has again been kind to open their wonderful space to celebrate Christmas with uplifting classical music.

Friday’s time is 7 p.m.; Sunday’s is 2 p.m. with receptions following, provided by members of the chorale and orchestra.

Opening the concerts will be the Selkirk Brass: Aryan Riener—trumpet, Larry Hanna—French horn, Mark Coburn—trombone, Bob Curran—tuba, and Sandy Wilcox—baritone or Rich Beber—soprano saxophone. They will perform the well-known carol “How Great Our Joy.” Following are two pieces by the chorale, “Lo, How a Rose e’er Blooming” and “Oh, Be Joyful.” Again the Selkirk Brass will be playing “We Three Kings” to ready the audience for a sing-along with four Christmas carols. The chorale will close the first half with “O Magnum Mysterium,” and“Hodie, Christus natus est.”

Featured on the second half of these concerts is “Meditation Mass” by Mark Reiner, for choir, soloists and orchestra, composed in 2000. “This is not a traditional mass as I use both Latin and English. I tried to bring forth the spiritual aspects of meditation by infusing the familiar mass with new elements,” said Reiner. Main soloists will be John Fitzgerald —baritone, and Connie Mitchell, Janice Wall, and Liz Adkinson —sopranos.

“We are all looking forward to presenting our free December concerts for the community in the spirit of love and unity. We sincerely thank the Seventh Day Adventist Church for always being supportive with rehearsal space. We also are so very grateful for continued generous support from our community over the past 25 years, that has enabled us to keep quality classical music alive in Bonner County, brought to you by volunteer musicians,” said director Mark Reiner.