It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and nothing says December like the sounds of festive holiday music. Nostalgic seasonal tunes are a positive reminder that good times, good food and loved ones are never far away. This Saturday and Sunday, the Waimea Community Chorus presents its 22nd annual holiday concert, “Sounds of the Season” at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea.
“The chorus will perform traditional carols in the classical style, along with pop, jazz, and other holiday favorites,” said Director Barbara Kopra. “We have 68 singers and they range from sophomores in high school, to singers in their 80s. We’ll also have 21 instrumentalists. All the performers are local talent from here on the island.”
The Waimea Community Chorus, accompanied by a 16-piece instrumental ensemble, performs a montage of choral music that represents a wide range of musical genres including classical, jazz, and gospel renditions of well-known traditional and popular carols. There will be a song to please everyone’s ear within this program of dynamic musical sounds designed to celebrate the season.
“The performance is part sacred and part secular,” said Kopra. “The first half is more religious and the second half is more about Santa, friends, family and celebrating being together. We also have two beautiful Hebrew anthems we are going to include. One is traditional and one is contemporary, so we are kind of making sure that we are paying tribute to all aspects of the season.”
The performance includes 12 stringed instruments, including the violin, viola, cello and bass. There will also be a brass section including trumpets, trombone, tenor sax, alto sax, flute, clarinet and oboe. There will also be percussion and keyboard.
“The audience is going to escape for an hour and a half and just enjoy listening to the music,” said Kopra. “It’s really uplifting, inspiring and fun. It’s also really impressive. There are going to be 90 people on stage, and to see 90 people doing something that they care about really strikes a chord in people, even if playing music is something they have never dreamed of doing. It’s really magical.”
“I just hope the audience leaves the performance feeling uplifted and happy,” she said. “It should be a positive feeling. The performance is a joy and a passion for all the singers and musicians who are involved. They love sharing their talents with others, and past audiences have said they can feel the passion and enthusiasm—that everybody loves what they are doing up on stage.”
The show starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased online at www.kahilutheatre.org or www.waimeacommunitytheatre.org. They can also be purchased directly from one of the chorus members. Ticket prices are $21 for adults, $18 for seniors and $12 for students.
Info: www.waimeacommunitytheatre.org.
