Telluride Choral Society: Wintersing, 12/9 & 12/11 at Christ Church!

27 Nov Telluride Choral Society: Wintersing, 12/9 & 12/11 at Christ Church!

Performances of the Telluride Choral Society’s WinterSing 2022 take place Friday, December 9, 7:00 p.m and Sunday, December 11, 4:00 p.m. at Christ Church. Tickets are $20 for adults; $10 for children at the door.

Go here for more about the Telluride Choral Society and WinterSings past.

Go here for more about Hal Adler, director of the adult singers.

With the Von Trapps safe and sound in Stowe, Vermont, Elizabeth Forsythe can say bye bye to her (pitch perfect, charming, wacky, wild and wonderful) Maria and return to her day jobs: Special Ed teacher at the Telluride Middle School/High School – and Youth Choral Director of the Telluride Choral Society.

Elizabeth Forsythe

Forsythe is joined by the Adult Choral Director, Hal Adler, for the upcoming WinterSing, the Choral Society’s annual concerts. WinterSing is a premier opening event of the holiday season in Telluride, in keeping with the fact no holiday is more closely associated with music than Christmas, whose evolution as a cultural phenomenon is reflected in a very very long list of memorable sounds.

Hal Adler

While it may be frustrating for the faithful, who feel the true meaning of the holiday has been preempted by commercialism, we live in multicultural times, when the blending and mixing of traditions is inevitable – and that is a good thing in the face of tribalism running wild. Scratch the surface, bag the canned rhetoric, and perhaps we find Christians, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists all over the world are more alike than different.

In the spirit of coming together, American Christmas celebrations now appear to belong to everyone, a gift that will be exploited – in a good way- at WinterSing 2022, where Adler has planned a few audience sing-alongs, including Handel’s world-famous Hallelujah Chorus.

“We’ll have scores or just lyrics printed out and available for the audience. Our director, Hal Adler, will workshop the piece with the audience a bit, and then off we all go!,” explains Choral Society regular and board member, Ginny Fraser.

Chorale pieces on the program range from the shimmering and reflective Oculi Omnium by Bob Chilcott to the celebratory Hallelujah.

“Christmas music always brings about feelings of connection to a higher power. This was not ‘my music’ as a Jewish kid growing up in Brooklyn, but somehow I have always been drawn to it. The mystery of it; the layered harmonies within it; the call to spirit in the writing. For me, Christmas sounds always transcend any one belief system and speaks to us all,” says Adler, continuing:

“This year’s program features some of my all-time favorite choral pieces. I’ve been singing the Hallelujah chorus all my life. Every time I get to, without fail, I find it to be uplifting and energizing. Rehearsing this masterwork with the Telluride Choral Society has been a true joy. Singing it with you, our audience, will be a dream come true.”

“Working with my group of talented young students has taught me so much. And I am grateful we were able to incorporate funny and silly into the choral process! For me, the holidays are full of magic, and hearing this group of young people excited by this music brought me back to the time I was their age and singing the very same songs,” adds Forsythe.

Hallelujah!