Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
This Sunday the San Antonio Choral Society is staging a performance called "From Mystery to Joy: A Choral Society & Brass Christmas." Music Director Jennifer Seighman says this choir has been singing together through several decades.
“We are a civic choir of about 80 voices, and we are in our 61st season,” Seighman said. “Our next concert will be on Sunday at Our Lady of the Lake Sacred Heart Chapel. And this is our main Christmas concert.”
The holiday season is, of course, perhaps the busiest. Seighman said the choir’s schedule has already been a wild ride.
“We've done a number of caroling things, the Messiah sing-along, a wedding flash mob, and we've got Sarah Brightman coming up at the end of the month,” she said.
They will sing a concert with Brightman at the Majestic Theater on December 20.
This Sunday’s performance of the Choral Society is at Our Lady of the Lake Sacred Heart Chapel.
The San Antonio Choral Society holiday concert tradition has delighted locals for generations—for 60 years.
Jennifer Seighman said this year is no different as she has selected a wide variety of holiday music, including some that will feature music not created by their voices.
“We will have a professional Brass Ensemble provided by Jeff Castle Brass, and along with organ,” Seighman said. “We've chosen everything from ancient melodies, kind of this journey through the Christmas story, and then we're doing Gabrielle with brass, and then moving forward to more modern pieces, Daniel Pinkham's Christmas cantata with brass, and then kind of a medley of Carols, and five different Carols that are from like Austria, Germany, England, France, so pieces that feature brass and that highlight the acoustics of (the chapel at) Our Lady of the Lake.”
She noted that the acoustics in the chapel are particularly good for singing. Asked if she had a favorite moment in this concert, she cited one in particular.
“I think in the John Taverner piece, in particular hymn to the “Mother of God” she said. “This piece is just almost taking a pause during the Christmas season to kind of really reflect on what the season is truly about.”
You can find tickets here.
