Orpheus Club Men's Chorus - Holiday Concerts 2018

OrPheus Club

hOliday

COnCerts dec. 8, 2018 Saturday • 7:30 p.m.

dec. 9, 2018 Sunday • 4:00 p.m.

united methodist Church 100 dayton St. • ridgewood

John Palatucci Director

Ron Levy Pianist/Assistant Conductor

Justin Kemp Percussion

Dotti Fucito Visual Producer

Special gueSt

Kristen Plumley Soprano

ridgewoodorpheusclub.org

OrPheus Club men’s ChOrus

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Welcome!

Welcome to the annual holiday concerts of the Orpheus Club. One of the oldest male choruses in the Northeast, Orpheus is dedicated to the continuance of men’s choral singing, fellowship and to providing audiences with an eclectic repertoire of enjoyable music.

Our singing membership is made up of men from all walks of life drawn together by the common bond of music. Our singers now come from throughout northern New Jersey. We welcome your inquiries about singing with us. If singing is not for you but you enjoy attending our concerts, we invite you to consider becoming a subscribing member. As such, you will be kept apprised of our upcoming concerts and will enjoy significant savings on the cost of tickets.

For more information feel free to speak with any singing member after the concert, visit our website (www.ridgewoodorpheusclub.org), or write to us (PO Box 114, Ridgewood).

John J. Palatucci enjoys a distinguished career as a performing musician, conductor, clinician, an adjudicator and educator. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education, a Master of Arts degree in music performance from Montclair State College of New Jersey, and a Masters of Education degree in educational leadership with all accompanying certificates from NJ EXCEL. He started singing at the age of eight in a family Christmas pageant. His love affair with choral music began at the age of ten when he was selected for his hometown church's boy choir.

Beginning in the fall of 1990, Mr. Palatucci became music director of the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus of Ridgewood. During his tenure, he has striven to uphold and enhance the OCMC's proud history, tradition and reputation. These efforts include performing Johannes Brahms' Alto Rhapsody with the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Randall Thompson's The Testament of Freedom and Giuseppi Verdi's Hymn to the Nations with the Orchestra of Saint Peter-by-the-Sea, Howard Hanson's Song of Democracy, Ottorino Respighi's Laud to the Nativity, Aaron Copland's Old American Songs, the revised finale to Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser, David Avshalomov’s arrangement of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album with the Ridgewood Concert Band, and Carmina Burana with the Summit Chorale as well as several commissions of new music for male chorus.

In the spring of 2005 he led the OCMC in its Lincoln Center debut, performing at the Lincoln Center Library with the Palisades Virtuosi chamber ensemble. Through 3

his efforts, the OCMC became a charter member of the New Jersey Choral Consortium in 2008 where he sat on the board of directors and served as vice president. In January 2009, he was honored by his colleagues at Montclair State University, being selected as speaker at the annual Dr. Jack Sacher Memorial Lecture. Also in 2009, during the OCMC’s centennial year, he led a Ridgewood community choral festival which culminated in a performance with orchestra and soloist Ron Levy of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. In 2011, his setting of Percy Grainger’s Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol was published by the International Percy Grainger Society. With Mr. Levy, he prepared the OCMC and its sister ensemble, the Ridgewood Choral, for a performance of the Beethoven Choral Fantasywith the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the auspices of the NJCC, with the OCMC and the Rutgers University Glee Club, in 2012 he helped organize and oversee an inaugural state-wide men’s chorus workshop and concert at Rutgers University. A 2013 debut performance at Carnegie Recital Hall with members of the OCMC included the NYC premieres of Peter Findley’s “Ubi caritas” and Godfrey Schroth’s “Orpheus with his lute.” In December 2016, he made his Lincoln Center David Geffen Hall guest conducting debut at the 49th annual Messiah Sing-In sponsored by the National Chorale, returning the following year for the event’s 50th anniversary and will guest conduct again this year on December 19th.

Ron Levy, internationally acclaimed pianist, has been called "first-class" by the New York Times. He regularly appears as a soloist, and in partnership with many of the world's leading singers and instrumentalists. A graduate of Oberlin, Mr. Levy is a founding member of the Hudson Trio, Kaleidoscope, the New World Trio, the Manchester Chamber Players, the Breucklen Trio and the award-winning Palisades Virtuosi, resident chamber ensemble at Bergen Community College and the University of Hawaii. He has been pianist and harpsichordist of the Oberlin Orchestra, the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, the New Jersey and North Jersey Philharmonics, the Westchester Symphony, the Albany Symphony and the All Seasons Chamber Players. For over 20 years, Mr. Levy was associated with the Manchester (VT) Music Festival, of which he was a faculty and Board member. While living in Vermont, he was Music Director & Conductor of the Opera Theatre in Weston, and impresario of the "Third Saturday" chamber music series at the historic Equinox Hotel, as well as the "Music on the Hill" series at the Southern Vermont Art Center. A champion of new music, he has been the recipient of a considerable number of works written for him by prominent composers. Mr. Levy has taught at numerous colleges, and is currently an instructor at Montclair State University; he maintains an active and on-going affiliation with the Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard, and NJ PAC. Mr. Levy conceived two "mini-festivals" which were presented by the NY Public Library at Lincoln Center. In 2008 Mr. Levy played in St. Petersburg, Russia, and at the venerable Stratford (CA) Summer Music Festival (with Palisades Virtuosi). In November of 2013, Ron presented a concert at Carnegie, performing sixteen works written for him (including two for the Orpheus Club). That same 4

fall he served on the jury of the Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition. Recently, Mr. Levy was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Rockland and Monmouth Symphony Orchestras; last spring, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his concerto debut, he soloed with both orchestras, performing concertos of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Grieg & Beethoven. A two-term President of the Professional Teachers' Guild of NJ, he is a contributing editor to BIM Music Publications, Switzerland. Recordings by Mr. Levy are available on the Albany, Centaur, Eroica, Koch International, MMF and High Point labels; several of the individual CDs comprising Palisades Virtuosi's New American Masters Series (Albany Records) have been submitted for Grammys.

Justin Kemp is a drummer and percussionist from Madison, N.J. currently studying music education at Montclair State University. Versed in all genres of music, he can often be seen performing in the various theater companies and high school pit orchestras of New Jersey, as well as subbing for blues, latin, and jazz bands. Justin has performed with many notable choral groups and directors such as The Drew University Singers led by Dr. Jason Bishop, The New Jersey Youth Chorus, and various choirs under the direction of Mark Miller. He also has worked with numerous churches and is currently the on call percussionist at “Church of the Little Flower” in Berkeley Heights.

Beyond his experience performing, Justin has been teaching drums and percussion privately for 6 years and recently joined the teaching staff at "In-tune Music School” in Maplewood, NJ. Outside of private instruction, he has also worked as the percussion tech for the Madison High School “Marching Dodgers” and assisted with public school percussion programs from time to time. dedicationS from donorS of the compoSition "Joy to the World"

Ed Brouillard ~ "To Evelyn, my wife of 27 years.

She brought a lot of joy to my world."

Lou Fucito ~ "In memory of Joan Purwin."

Bob Gremillot ~ "Dedicated to my wife Barbara."

Aster Riley ~ "Dedicated to my wife Harriet A. Riley, Mr & Mrs. Samuel A. Nardo and The Reverend Olive W. and Paulene Riley." a neW Way to Support orpheuS

Now you can support as you shop! Amazon.com has a program whereby they will donate ½ percent of the purchase price of whatever goods and services you purchase to Orpheus. You pay nothing extra for this program and it looks exactly as you’re used to seeing when you access the regular Amazon web site. To login to Amazon Smile mereScan this code to ly reference this link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/22-3597641 and go directly to the you will see our name displayed at the top of the screen. Shop exactly Orpheus link. the same as you would under regular Amazon. There is also a download link that will install an icon on your PC that will start you in Amazon Smile: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=utF8&docid=1002402211 5

Special ThankS to the ownership and management of

Care One at the Cupola W. 100 Ridgewood Avenue, Paramus, NJ

Perry’s Florist 660 Harristown Rd., Glen Rock, NJ

Daily Treat Restaurant 177 Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, NJ

Benny’s Luncheonette 11-04 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn, NJ

Matthews Diner 4 Franklin Turnpike, Waldwick, NJ

The Orpheus Club appreciates your help and support!

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Our Guest

KriSten plumley soprano Described as possessing a “shimmering soprano” (The New York Times) with “sparkle and precision” (The Washington Post), Connecticut native Kristen Plumley enjoys singing everything from opera’s light lyric roles to oratorio to pops classics.

She has performed with many opera companies throughout the country, including New York City Opera, Virginia Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey and Chautauqua Opera.

On the concert stage Kristen has performed a broad spectrum of works, from classical pieces (Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War at Carnegie Hall, Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony) to An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan with the symphony orchestras of St. Louis, Richmond, Memphis and Minnesota.

She also greatly enjoys pops concerts, and her favorite is Sci-Fi Spectacular (music from science fiction movies and television shows, hosted by Star Trek series luminaries such as George Takei, Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis), which she has performed with the Cleveland, Indianapolis, Seattle, Baltimore, Edmonton and Ottawa Symphonies, under the baton of Maestro Jack Everly.

In 2011 Kristen performed in the North American premiere of Handel’s first opera, Almira, with operamission in New York. She recently created the role of Ruth Draper in Icarus Rising, a new dance opera about Italian freedom fighter Lauro DeBosis, with Verlezza Dance.

She makes time to pay it forward by volunteering as the president of the Ridgewood (NJ) Friends of Music, a parent-run organization that supports the music curriculum in her town’s public schools.

Please visit her website at www.kristenplumley.com 7

OfficerS Vernon Reed ............................................................. President Bob Husband ........................................................... Chairman Pete Bernich ............................ Vice President, Administration Paul Nelson ................................ Vice President, Membership Cliff Hook .................................................................. Treasurer Rick Swanson ............................................................ Librarian Board of truSteeS Singing memBerS

Greg Farrell Dave Kerr

Steven Fell

Lou Fucito Marlin Townes

non-Singing memBerS

Dotti Fucito

Marcia Perry

Phillip Raspe

committee chairmen Paul Berinato ..................................................................................................Music Eric Schwarz ..............................................................................................Publicity Bob Husband .....................................................................................Fund Raising paSt preSidentS George U. White Frank F. Knothe George W. Campbell Wilbur Morris Paul J. Howe Herbert R. Talbot George A. Steves Theodore Northrup Robert Nutt, Jr. Ray M. Gidney Harry Wiltshire Richard H. Long Chester S. Lawton William J. Crawford Arthur I. Demarest Leon A. Payne Albert W. Staub Clifford D. Ackerman Howard R. Leroy

Richard G. Mannheim Frederick A. Blanpied Charles R. Dewhurst Stanley M. Staples Howard M. Liechty John Bing Walter C. Doscher Frederick E. Ray Theodore H. Mastin, Jr. Herbert S. Buzzard Otis H. Grendler Jack D. Morrison Oliver H. Hiester Karel V. Ctibor Vincent G. Beck Robert J. Egner Charles B. Hepburn 8

George W. Billings Jerome Wyckoff E. Raymond Greve Carl F. Bilz Robert E. Duane Frank Strobl Roland L. Meyer James W. Rash Paul D. Berinato Dan Williams Lou Fucito Jim Lisanti Pat O’Brien Joe Lisella Robert Silvera Greg Farrell Bob Husband

OrpheuS club Men’S chOruS firST TenOr ROBERT F. SILVERA**, Part Captain CHARLES BROWN JIM LISANTI* MITCHELL G. SHAPIRO

PETE BERNICH* BOB HUSBAND*

SecOnd TenOr PAUL BERINATO**, Part Captain BILL DE BLOCK CLIFFORD GERENz* JAMES M. MATTHEWS* RICHARD REHBEIN RICK SWANSON JOE LISELLA*

JOHN CENTENARO JOHN GALVIN* CLIFF HOOK JAMES O’ROURKE DAVID STRIFE

DAVE KERR*, Part Captain ANDREW FERRETTI RAy PIxLEy

BILL AMAzzINI JEFF COOPER ALEx KEHL VAN SCHNELLBACHER

NED CENIT VERNON REED*

LOU FUCITO* ROBERT GREMILLOT NEIL NEUBERT* ASTER RILEy HERB COHEN*

bariTOne MATTHEW FAIRCHILD JIM MISKOWSKI GARy STARK baSS SAM SHAW, Part Captain EDWARD J. BROUILLARD** STEVEN FELL** JOHN MCKEON

GREG FARRELL* PAUL NELSON ERIC SCHWARz

BOB CASPARIAN ROGER JACOBSON TOM OTT* MARLIN TOWNES

acTive – nOT Singing in ThiS cOncerT JOE BURNEy

RAy DIJON hOnOrary MeMber FRANK STROBL*** * Each star represents ten years of music making

Keep up with the

Orpheus Club www.ridgewoodorpheusclub.org Scan the code at left with your smartphone to go there 9

OrpheuS prOgraM

Holiday 2018 i

Salutation .................................................................................. William P. Bentz Deck the Hall ..................................................................................... Traditional Richard Rehbein, tenor The audience is invited to join in singing.

Psalm 150 ..................................................................... Louis Lewandowski Wachet auf, (Sleepers ‘wake’) …….…………….... Johann Sebastian Bach Angels We have heard on High ................................................. Traditional Joe Lisella, tenor

Arranged by Richard Lane

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Yule Jewel ................................................................... Dr. Thomas Juneau Children’s Presence from Christmas Sweets ............... Roger Stubblefield Ron Levy, piano iii

Three Waltzes Kristen Plumley, soprano

Juliet’s Waltz Song (“Je veux vivre”) ............................. Johannes Brahms From Romeo & Juliet, 1867/rev.188

(1818 – 1893)

Musetta’s Waltz Song (“Quando m’en vo”) .................... Giacomo Puccini From La Boheme; 1896

(1856 – 1924)

My Favorite Things .............................................. Rogers and Hammerstein From Sound of Music; 1959

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Ki Mi Tzion ................................................................................Traditional

Arranged by John Palatucci Benedictus ................................................................................Karl Jenkins Joy to the World ....................................................................Lowell Mason Arranged by Dr. Thomas Juneau

Save The daTeS!

Orpheus Spring Concerts Saturday • April 6, 2019 • Sunday • April 7, 2019 Mark your calendars now so as not to miss these gala events.

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OrpheuS prOgraM

Holiday 2018 There will be a fifteen-minute Intermission. v

Siyahamba ........................................................... Traditional Zulu folk song Bwana Awabariki ............................................ Traditional Swahili folk song Arranged by Eugene Butler Lou Fucito, tenor and William Amazzini, bass

Jingle Bell Rock ................................... Joseph Beal and James Ross Boothe Mitchell Shapiro, Pete Bernich, Lou Fucito, Joe Lisella David Strife, Andrew Ferretti, Paul Nelson, William Amazzini, Robert Casperian, Ed Brouillard

River in Judea ............................................ Jack Feldman and Linda Marcus Arranged by John Leavit Matthew Fairchild, baritone and Alex Kehl, bass vi

Glitter and be Gay .......................................................... Leonard Bernstein From Candide; 1956

(1918 – 1990)

Kristen Plumley, soprano vii

Baby its cold Outside ........................................................... Frank Loesser Kristen Plumley, soprano

Good King Wenceslas .......................................................................Traditional Arranged by Channing Lefebvre Charles Brown, Vernon Reed, Robert Gremillot, Jim Matthews, Andrew Farretti, David Kerr, Alex Kehl, Sam Shaw

We need a little Christmas .......................................................... Jerry Herman Mitchell Shapiro, Pete Bernich, Lou Fucito, Joe Lisella, David Strife, Andrew Ferretti, Paul Nelson, William Amazzini, Robert Casperian, Ed Brouillard, Charles Brown, Vernon Reed, Robert Gremillot, Jim Matthews, David Kerr, Alex Kehl, Sam Shaw

Happy Holidays!

'This program is made possible in part by a grant administered by the Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs from funds granted bythe New Jersey State Council on the Arts.'

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paTrOnS & SpOnSOrS paTrOnS Ms. Heather Fitzsimmons

Ms. Marcia Perry*

Ms. Alice Kelly Fleckenstein

Mr. Robert J. Petretti**

Mr. James Rash & Ms. Marcia Guthrie*

Mr. & Mrs. Walter White**

Mrs. Dottie Fucito*

aSSOciaTe MeMberS Ms. Dorothy P. Fucito

Mr. & Mrs. H. Ralph Kirby***

SubScribing MeMberS Ms. Margaret Jane Budd

Mrs. Marianne S. Neville**

Mr. & Mrs. Steven Steiner*

Ms. Roberta A. M. Ragg**** Mr. Frank Strobl

dOnOrS The Orpheus Club gratefully acknowledges the following members and friends who have made donations to the club: Mr. Clifford Gerenz Bank of America / Mr. Thomas Ott Merrill Lynch Mr. Robert Kaufman Ms. Marcia Perry Wealth Management Mr. David Kerr Mr. Thomas Price Mr. Herb Cohen Mr. Ronald Levy Mr. Kenneth Scheller Ms. Kathy Cavalho Mr. James Matthews Mr. Eric Schwarz Ms. Heather Fitzsimmons Mr. David Strife

We invite your support “in praise of song.”

Please make your check payable to Orpheus Club, Inc. and mail it to Post Office Box 114, Ridgewood, NJ 07451.

All contributions to Orpheus are fully tax deductible to the maximum extent of the law. rOland l. Meyer OrpheuS club SchOlarShip fund Ms. Margaret Jane Budd

Ms. Alex-Rainer Meyer

Ms. Marcia Perry

cOnTribuTiOnS TOWard MuSic purchaSeS

The Orpheus Club thanks our members and friends who have made donations which have enabled the club to purchase new music for our performances.

Mr. Edward Brouillard Mr. Lou Fucito

Mr. Robert Gremillot Ms. Marcia Perry

Mr. Phil Raspe Mr. Aster Riley

BreakFast • lunch • Dinner Serving the Community for 50 Years

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OrpheuS club SchOlarShip prOgraM Roland L. Meyer Orpheus Club Scholarship To keep “the song alive” the members of the Orpheus Club are committed to support future generations of musicians in their endeavors. To that end, for more than two decades the Orpheus Club has been proud to sponsor a scholarship program designed to honor and assist a graduating high school senior who has demonstrated extraordinary accomplishments in music and who intends to continue musical studies on the collegiate level.

Since taking its current form in 1993, the program has made grants totaling $27,000.00.

Students from Ridgewood, Indian Hills, Paramus, Pequannock, Glen Rock, Ramapo, Northern Valley (Old Tappan), Eastern Christian, Northern Highlands, Fair Lawn, Verona, Roxbury, Montclair, Leonia, Lakeland, Kittatinny, Glen Ridge and West Essex Regional high schools and the Bergen County Academy have been past recipients of Orpheus Club awards. These outstanding young musicians have gone on to study at Oberlin College, the University of Miami, the University of North Carolina, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Boston University, the Mannes College of Music, Miami University (Ohio), Rutgers University, Calvin College (Michigan), the Manhattan School of Music, Boston College, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Hamilton College (New York), Brandeis University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Michigan, West Chester University (PA), the Colburn School of Music (Los Angeles) and Princeton University.

At our concerts this past April, we awarded the 2017 Roland L. Meyer Orpheus Club Scholarship grant of $2000 to Erin Chang from Hillsborough High School.

We hope to be able to honor other outstanding musicians in coming years.

Applications for our 2018 award will soon be mailed out to area schools and will also be available on our web site. If you know of a promising high school senior who might be eligible, encourage them to apply.

We thank all those individuals and groups who have made donations to this valuable effort and encourage you to continue your support of our students in the arts. Donations of any size are welcomed. Make your check payable to the Orpheus Club Scholarship Fund and give it to any singing member or mail it to:

orpheus club, inc.

P.o. Box 114 • ridgewood, nJ 07451 All contributions are tax-deductible.

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Program Notes December 2018 hail! friendS of muSic! The OCMC’s signature fanfare theme song, “Hail, friends of music” was composed by William Benz in 1934 and first sung at New York City’s 71st Regiment Armory during a meeting of the Associated Glee Clubs of America in April of that year.

Deck the hall – Yes! The original title is “Deck the HALL” with a Welsh melody dating back to the sixteenth century and belonging to a New Year carol, "Nos Galan." The English lyrics, written by Scotsman Thomas Oliphant, baptized on Christmas Day 1799, date to 1862. pSalm 150 Louis Lewandowski was a choir director, cantor, and composer who advocated for communal singing with instrumental, often organ, accompaniment. His spirited setting of Psalm 150 is here set by another well respected leader of Jewish liturgical music, Lior Himelstein.

We sing in honor of the Festival of Lights, standing with the greater Jewish community and all people of good will everywhere.

Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!

Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise you the LORD! chorale prelude from cantata BWV 140 “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” Composed during his famous tenure as kapellmeister at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, for the Sunday service immediately preceding Advent, Bach’s “Sleepers, wake!” is one of his most recognizable chorale preludes. The hymn tune is Reformation composer Phillipe Nicolai’s, the text is based on the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 1-11.

Zion hears the watchmen singing, her heart within her jumps for joy; the bride awakes and quickly rises.

Her glorious friend comes down from heaven, strong in mercy, powerful in truth; her light becomes bright, her star rises.

Come now, precious crown, Lord Jesus, God's son. Hosannah! We all follow to the joyous hall and feast together there with you. angelS We haVe heard on high The setting of this favorite, florid French carol was penned by our beloved friend, colleague, mentor, and accompanist of nearly 40 years, the late Richard Lane. Full of strong choral writing as well as whimsy, listen for music within the music such as a quote in the piano of “Deck the hall.”

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children’S preSence from Christmas Sweets (world premiere) Roger Stubblefield has established himself as one of NJ’s important composers having had his music performed by members of the New Jersey Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Michigan Opera Theatre, State Orchestra of Merida, Venezuela, and the Palisades Virtuosi. Tonight’s world premiere was written with Orpheus pianist and assistant conductor Ron Levy specifically in mind. three WaltzeS "Je veux vivre" from Romeo et Juliet In Act 1 of Gounod’s opera, at a masked ball, Juliette sings a joyful waltz just before meeting her love.

I want to live in the dream that has long elated me! Sweet flame, I preserve you in my soul like a treasure! This intoxication of youth will not last, alas, more than a day!

Then comes the hour when one weeps; the heart yields to love, and happiness flees, never to return! Far from that sullen winter let me sleep, and breathe in the rose before plucking it!

“Musetta's Waltz” ("Quando m'en vo") from La Boheme One of the world’s most popular arias from one of its most popular operas. Act 2 opens on Christmas Eve in Paris. At the sight of Marcello, her former love, Musetta flirts with him in hopes of making her current and much older suitor, Alcindoro, jealous.

When I walk alone in the street, people stop and stare at me and everyone looks at my beauty, looks at me, from head to foot...And then I relish the sly yearning which escapes from their eyes and which is able to perceive my most hidden beauties.

Thus, the scent of desire is all around me and it makes me happy, makes me happy!

And you who know, who remember and yearn, do you shrink from me? I know it very well: you do not want to express your anguish, I know so well that you do not want to express it but you feel as if you are dying!

“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music The story of Maria, Captain von Trapp and his children escaping the Nazi oppressors of their beloved Austria has enthralled audiences for going on sixty years. The song Maria sings to calm the children’s fears during a thunder storm has become a holiday season perennial.

Ki mi tziyon “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

(Isaiah 2:3, JPSB) The focal feature of every Jewish synagogue is the ark which holds the Torah scrolls.

Three times a week, including during Hanukkah, when the scrolls are taken out of the ark for the weekly portion to be read, the words "Ki MiTzion tetzei u'dvar Hashem mi Yerushalayim" are sung.

“BenedictuS” from the armed man: a maSS for peace Essentially an anti-war composition based on the Catholic Mass but combined with other sources, principally the 15th-century folk song "L'homme armé," the piece was commissioned by the Royal Armories Museum for its Millennium celebration, to mark the museum's move from London to Leeds, and dedicated to victims of the 1998 Kosovo crisis.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Salvation from the highest!

(Psalm 118:46, Matthew 21:9)

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the riDgewooD choral Women in Song and Service

2018-2019 season

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Joy to the World (World Premiere) Composed by Lowell Mason, America’s first professional music educator, and dedicated to George Frederick Handel, his favorite composer. This new setting incorporates baroque, liturgical, and movie musical elements. Dr. Thomas Juneau, one of the NY/NJ area’s foremost choral conductors, composers, and educators received his first OCMC commission to write “Hymn of Triumph” for music director Palatucci’s 25th anniversary.

We are delighted to present yet another premiere performance of Tom’s excellent work.

SiyahamBa/BWana aWaBariKi The Zulu words of Siyahamba mean “We are marching in the light of God” and was one of the songs to inspire South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. Bwana Awabariki, “May God give you a blessing,” is a Swahili folk hymn. Both are presented here in celebration of Kwanzaa which begins on December 26th.

Jingle Bell rocK Since hitting the air waves in 1957, this number has never left the top of the holiday pop charts. Listen carefully and you will hear our basses quote Lydia Marie Child’s poem “Over the river and through the woods.” riVer in Judea This gospel anthem speaks about the Jordan River being a living thing, a metaphor for the universal human quest for peace, exemplified by the river’s own peaceful yet mighty and the ever-rolling stream. glitter and Be gay from Candide Bernstein used many different styles of music to convey the satirical nature of Voltaire's play. By referencing elements of bel canto, he portrays Cunegonde’s character musically in something of a modern “mad scene,” teetering between devastated and ecstatic.

You will be ecstatic upon hearing Kristen Plumley’s boffo performance.

BaBy, it’S cold outSide from Neptune’s Daughter This song started out as a novelty number Frank Loesser and his wife often sang at dinner parties. In the 1949 movie “Neptune’s Daughter,” while Ricardo Montalban pursues Esther Williams, Betty Garrett turns the tables on a befuddled and flustered Red Skelton by singing a reversal of the roles. good King WenceSlaS Englishman John Mason Neale with Thomas Helmore produced the familiar form of this carol about the 10th-century patron saint of what became Czechoslovakia. Accompanied by a page, the good king (probably more accurately a Bohemian duke) miraculously braves a blizzard to bring food and fuel to a peasant on the December 26th Feast of St. Stephen, the second day of Christmas.

We need a little chriStmaS from Mame The song is performed after Mame has lost her fortune in the stock market crash of 1929 and decides she, her young nephew Patrick and her two household servants 'need a little Christmas' to cheer them up. We hope to do the same for you and yours with this lively finale to our evening.

Thanks for coming!

Happy Hanukkah! Blessed Yule! Merry Christmas! Joyous Kwanzaa!

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Program notes written by John Palatucci

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Wanted!

Men SingerS for Orpheus

H

H

Our Wednesday evening rehearsals start again January 9, 2019 8 to 10 p.m.

The Georgian Room Care One at the Cupola W. 100 Ridgewood Avenue, Paramus

Call for more information!

Bob husband 201-602-9092 Vernon reed 973-349-5895 lou fucito 201-445-0027

• Enjoy the Camaraderie • It’s a great weekly break • Come to rehearsal—try us out!

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660 Harristown Road Glen Rock, NJ 07452 201-445-5668 www.perrysflorist.net

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