Chamber Singers to present Christmas concert Dec. 17-18

FAIRFIELD — The Chamber Singers of Southeast Iowa will present a two-day concert “Rejoice and Sing” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17-18 at Golden Magnolia Sanctuary (formerly First Presbyterian Church) in Fairfield.

The concert will feature Christmas music from around the world that spans musical eras from the Renaissance to the present day.

“The concert program rekindles the joys of the holiday season with inspiring sacred and secular songs that tell the story of Christmas through motets, spirituals, madrigals, and traditional carols set in contemporary arrangements,” said Elaine Reding, director of the chamber singers.

The lineup of songs is drawn from countries such as the United States, England, Germany and Spain, to name a few. Reding said chamber singers have to be ready to sing in multiple languages, and for this concert they’ll be singing in English, German, Spanish, French and Latin.

“We have a lot of training in our group, and you really develop as a singer,” she said. “We bring in vocal experts to teach us how to perform and pronounce words correctly. If we sing in Hebrew, I’ll bring in someone who knows Hebrew. If we sing in Estonian, I’ll find a native Estonian to help us.”

The chamber singers have 20 members, and Reding said the group is kept small on purpose because she wants to keep the quality of singing at a high level.

“This is a big commitment,” she said. “You have to work at being a good singer, and we do complicated music.”

This year’s Christmas concert also will feature an instrumental trio who will perform interludes between the songs. That trio consists of organist Paul Skevington, flutist Karen Kouider, and Rosalind Stowe, who will play the viola da gamba.

“These three are all stellar players,” Reding said.

Reding said that, though the COVID pandemic can seem over with most restrictions being lifted, choral groups are still not back to where they were pre-pandemic. She said performers got used to not leaving their home, and a lot of choruses are not back to full capacity.

“We were luckier than most because we continued to work with masks on and even performed with them on,” she said. “With a lot of safety protocols, we kept singing, and nobody in our group got sick.”

The chamber singers traditionally perform a spring and winter concert. Reding said the 2022 spring concert was well attended, and exceeded her expectations.

“Because of COVID and people not going out, we only booked the concert for one night, and we had an overflow crowd,” she said. “We decided for this upcoming concert to go back to two nights like we did pre-COVID.”

Those who miss this coming winter concert can see the chamber singers again for their 2023 spring concert, which will be held at the end of May. Reding said the group is always on the lookout for other performing opportunities, and actually had to turn one down recently because it was too far away.

“We were invited to sing in London this coming June, but that was going to be too expensive,” she said. “After we sang at Carnegie Hall [in New York], we were invited back to sing again, but that was canceled because of the pandemic. The conductor who conducted us invited us to join him in London, but we had to decline.”

Tickets for the Dec. 17-18 concerts are $10 at the door, and $5 for students with an ID.

“I hope everyone will join us on this holiday journey of song that traverses the hopeful landscape of Christmas joy! It has been an amazing experience to work with our dedicated singers to put together this concert of fabulous and challenging music for our Fairfield community,” Reding said.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com