The Maryland State Boychoir can offer a calm respite from the craziness of the holiday season with their 19th Annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Saturday and Sunday.
“Most people who come [to the concert] leave with the concept that they have celebrated Christmas. It’s the simplicity, the beauty of the environment in which we do it, and the absolutely simple, gorgeous sound that the boys make,” said Frank Cimino, founder and director of the choir.
» Where: The Maryland State Boychoir Center for the Arts, 3400 Norma Ave., Baltimore
» When: 7 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday
» Tickets: $12 to $22
» Info: www.marylandstateboychoir.org
The boychoir’s annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is based on the festival at King’s College Chapel in England. The performance begins with a traditional processional carol, “Once in Royal David’s City,” and includes works by Gustav Holst, John Rutter, Antonio Vivaldi and G.F. Handel. The choir will also perform the world premiere of Eleanor Daley’s “Christmastide,” composed specifically for this year’s performance.
“What we’ve been committed to doing is finding composers who are writing great music for choirs, and commissioning them,” said Patrick Bourckel, assistant director of the choir. “Eleanor Daley is a well-known composer, and it’s been a neat privilege to work with her on this part of the program.”
Now in its 22nd year, the 150-member choir includes boys from ages 7 to 20. Young singers from Baltimore City and nine different Maryland counties, plus a few from Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Mayor Sheila Dixon and Olympian Katie Hoff are scheduled to appear, and Bourckel said that both performances are close to selling out already. “It’s a unique event in the city. It’s not as big a deal as perhaps the Holiday Spectacular at the BSO is, but it’s a different experience for people at Christmas.”
Bourckel thinks that a lot of people come to take a trip down memory lane. “We get plenty of people who sang in their church choir either in America or England. And the building that we are in has been a staple of the community since the ’30s. People come back to the church and remember either attending here, or seeing it in the neighborhood growing up.”
