Program Notes

Welcome to our 50th Anniversary edition of Glory of Christmas! Oregon Repertory Singers is not a religious organization, but we have kept the title of these concerts because so many of the best pieces of choral music were written for this season. And while we include music from a variety of traditions, my focus more and more has been on choosing the most beautiful music I can find, so that you can take an afternoon or evening to simply be immersed in beauty. 

Dr. Ethan Sperry | Artistic Director & Conductor

We are releasing our new album 50 at these concerts. ORS was very privileged to work with the multiple-Grammy-Award-winning team of producer Steve Barnett and engineer Preston Smith who flew to Portland for recording sessions with us this past January and then edited, mixed, and mastered the album at their studio in Minneapolis. 

Our album 50, has the same goal as these concerts: to present the most beautiful compilation of choral works recorded in ideal conditions. You will hear many of your favorite selections by Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, and ¯ Eriks Eˇsenvalds that we have presented at Glory of Christmas in recent seasons, and of course Franz Biebl’s famous Ave Maria. 

And we have three other major anniversaries to celebrate! Our Youth Choir program is in their 30th Season this year, and we are so glad that singers of all ages will be joining us for these performances. We are also thrilled to have the Chamber Orchestra from Union High School in Camas, Washington join us for the third time! As we celebrate our 50th, their conductor Tim Siess (who is a singer and the bass section leader in ORS) is celebrating his 40th year as a music teacher. You would be hard pressed to find such a high quality orchestra at any high school in the United States, and if you enjoy hearing them tonight, you can hear them playing Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass with us on our new album. 

And finally, our beloved accompanist Naomi LaViolette is celebrating her 20th Season (and definitely not final season) as our pianist and frequent guest composer. Our new album features several pieces of hers including Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence which you can hear live in these performances, and her first original composition Winter Solstice which we premiered last year. And we are so excited to present the premiere performances of Naomi’s new version of her original song Written for You which she has expanded to include full orchestra. 

Thank you for celebrating with us this year. We hope we can continue our mission of surrounding you with beauty, and that you can carry that with you as you gather with friends and family this holiday season. 

While this is far from my first Glory of Christmas performance, it is the first in which I get to conduct as Artistic Director of the ORS Youth Choir. It is also my second Christmas as a new mom. My partner and I reflected that we are truly seeing and hearing the world anew, and the joy of introducing our youth choirs to beautiful melodies and inspiring harmonies makes me feel like a kid every year of my teaching career. The joy and beauty of a familiar melody, set slightly differently, or a new take on a beloved text brings a comforting ritual to our holiday season.

Aubrey Patterson | Youth Choir Artistic Director

The theme from the short film The Snowman is the selection that ties all of our many ensembles together. Amberlynn Lane’s connection with Keiko Twiss allows us to explore the sounds of the Koto, a traditional Japanese zither as our accompaniment. It lends an ethereal, almost haunting take on the holiday, with poetic lines like “we’re floating in the midnight blue.” 

Our first weekend features our Elementary program and three of our excellent instructors I am lucky to work with: Amberlynn Lane, Koren Russ, and Hannah Delgado.

Mama Bake the Johnny Cake is a well known Christmas song in the Bahamas. Johnny Cakes are similar to donuts and a delightful treat—just like our youngest singers’ rendition of the song.

Dodi Li is a wonderful opportunity to explore ancient poems in collaboration with our singers. Each location (West, Central, and North) is featured in a verse of poetry with movements they created based on their interpretations. Though the specific phrases may be difficult to understand, love (the theme of the poems) is something we can all connect with. 

In our second weekend of performances, our new middle school directors Melinda Murdock (Central) and Andrew Hancock (North) combine their middle school choirs for the traditional French carol, Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella.

Our high school singers show their worth is beyond measure as they portray poetry by Leonora Speyer, “Sky, be my depth, Wind, be my width and my height, World, my heart’s span; Loveliness, wings for my flight.” Composer Elaine Hagenberg challenges us to think beyond ourselves with an always reaching, always striving choral setting of the text. This piece showcases our incredible collaborative pianist, Cindy Mair! She truly collaborates with every ensemble she partners with, and I’m so pleased and honored to work with her every week. 

Our high school and middle school choirs close with a setting from our composer-in-residence, Stacey Philipps. Poet Elinor Wylie “creates a true winter wonderland in describing the magical sights, soft sounds, and silence of a snowy day.” ORS’s own Philipps layers her depth of harmony like so many layers of fallen snow. As our audience becomes familiar with the plaintive melody, please join us on the theme as it repeats: “Let us walk in the white snow in a soundless space; with footsteps quiet and slow, at a tranquil pace under veils of white lace.”