HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS TAPESTRY SINGERS
Saturday, December 17, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 18, 4:00 p.m. Damariscotta Baptist Church










Saturday, December 17, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 18, 4:00 p.m. Damariscotta Baptist Church
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Sheepscot Valley Chorus, p. 7 Shelley’s Flowers, p. 6
Skidompha Secondhand Bookshop, p. 8 Sotheby’s Real Estate, p. 28 Sproul’s Furniture, p. 3 Stepping Stone Housing, p. 24
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At First National Bank our commitment to the arts runs deep. From chamber music and community theater, to paintings, poetry, and pottery, we respect the artful dedication that goes into the making of masterpieces. We believe there is an art to banking, too, and we invite you to experience the difference at First National Bank.
Tapestry Singers gratefully acknowledges the contributions from the following:
Patron
Anonymous
Mary and Bill Bausch Rosie and Gary Bensen Judy and Fred Grey Marcus and Andrea Hutchins Beth Preston Cathy and Hayden Sears
Sponsor
Anonymous, in loving memory of Loretto B. Whalen
Mary and Bill Bausch Jim and Sarah Birkett Dirk and Linda Brunner
Elizabeth and Gordon Davis Ian and Lynn Drewette Cindy and Mark Freese Robert and Nancy Gault Carolyn Gray
Kristin and David Harman
Tom and Catherine Lyons Priscilla Smith
Suzanne Lufkin Weiss Supporter
John D Adams Richard and Mary Chase
Patty Colhoun
Anne and Chris Frost Karen Haney and Keith Langendorfer Frazier Meade Nadine S Raley Friend
Jenny Brown Caroline D. Janover Carol Preston Ann Spencer
Tapestry Singers is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that relies on the generosity of individuals and businesses in its community for financial support. Donations received through Dec. 5, 2022, are acknowledged here. Donations received after this program went to press will be acknowledged in our Spring Concert program.
Tapestry Singers is a wonderful mix of professional and skilled amateur singers. We commit to practicing outside weekly rehearsals to learn our music using the practice tracks that are provided. We work hard at rehearsals, but also have fun in the process. Check out our website to set up and audition. TapestrySingersMaine.org/join-us/
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Jackie Belknap
Linda Blomquist
Jenny Brown Kayla Cruz Betsey deGroff Sarah Duggan Hildy Ellis Clara Fagan Nancy Gault Judy Grey Violet Holbrook Lynn Kimball Marybeth McCaffrey Susan McGovern Ava Nery Natalie Norris Alto Rosie Bensen Taylor Briggs Laurie Brown Barrie Brusilla April Burke
Debby Carroll Barbara Cray Kaylee Dodge Anne Frost
Karen Haney
Catherine Lyons Zora Margolis Jaja Martin Sue McLeod Deanna Pierpan Amanda Sykes
Tenor Laurie Asche Bill Bausch Mal Briggs Chris Frost Matthew Long Hayden Sears John Strong Bass Fred Bowers Gordon Clark Randy Cruz Mark Freese Franklin Holland Gordon Lind Don Osier Skip Simonds Paul Velleman
Pastor Marilee Harris and the folks at Damariscotta Baptist Church Lincoln Academy Music Department and Maintenance Crew Gordon Clark and the many set up volunteers
Beth Preston holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Brigham Young University and a Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from University of Southern Maine. In her role as Music Director for Tapestry Singers she has become known for championing the works of living composers. She directed Tapestry during 1998-2006 and then returned to the group in 2014. She was a founding member of the critically acclaimed, Brunswick-based Vox Nova Chamber Choir. She currently sings in its newer iteration, Una Voce Chamber Choir. She was a member of the chorus of Opera Maine in productions of La Bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor, Faust, Roméo et Juliette, and part of a small women’s choir that performed with Midcoast Symphony Orchestra for Debussy’s Nuages and Holst’s The Planets.
She was awarded “Distinguished Choral Director of the Year 2010” by Maine American Choral Directors Association, “Music Educator of the Year 2013” by Maine Music Educators District 3, and “Maine Music Educator of the Year 2019” by Maine Music Educators Association. She is actively involved with the Maine Chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing, is a member of the VoiceCare Network, and a member of the National Association for Music Education. In June 2019 Preston retired from a 37-year career in the public schools where she conducted award-winning choirs and directed musical theater productions of the highest caliber. She teaches privately, coaching singers who win awards, scholarships, and acceptance into prestigious post-secondary programs.
Tapestry Singers continues its commitment to performing the music of current composers by offering traditional carols and contemporary classics of the festive seasons of Christmas, Hanukkah, and the Winter Solstice. We are happy to feature as soloists two Tapestry Singers and Lincoln Academy alumni, Kayleigh Tolley and Brennan Cruz, “ home for the holidays.”
A few notes about the program selections: “See, Amid the Winter's Snow,” is an arrangement of the hymn tune “Humility,” composed by John Goss with text by Edward Caswall which swells with emotion as the lyrics unfold. Arranger Dan Forrest has been described as having “an undoubted gift for writing beautiful music….that is truly magical” (NY Concert Review), with works hailed as “magnificent, very cleverly constructed sound sculpture” (Classical Voice), and “superb writing…full of spine-tingling moments” (Salt Lake Tribune). His music has sold millions of copies and has become well established in the repertoire of choirs in the U.S. and abroad.
“Carillon on a Ukrainian Carol,” played by the incomparable Sean Fleming, is familiarly known as “Carol of the Bells,” music by Mylola Leontovych and lyrics by Peter Wilhousky. The conductor of the Ukrainian Republic Choir, Oleksander Koshyts, commissioned Leontovych to create the song based on traditional Ukrainian folk chants. The original folk story related in the song was associated with the coming New Year, which, in pre-Christian Ukraine, was celebrated with the coming of spring in April. The song was first performed by students at Kyiv University in December 1916, but the song lost popularity in Ukraine shortly after the Soviet Union took hold. It was introduced to Western audiences by the Ukrainian National Chorus during its 1919 concert tour of Europe and the Americas, where it premiered in the United States on October 5, 1922, to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall.
Accompanied by solo cellist, April Reed-Cox, “Serenity” is a soundscape on the traditional “O Magnum Mysterium” text and has long phrases that seem to suspend the listener in space. The text is from a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas in the Catholic liturgy. It has been the source text for many classical choral arrangements for centuries. Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo is one of the most frequently performed composers in the choral world. His
evolving style is often described as cinematic and evocative, with a lush, harmonious sound.
“O Holy Night,” originally "Minuit, chrétiens! c'est l'heure solennelle" was adapted into English by Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight in 1855. His version became popular in the United States, especially in the North, where the third verse, “chains shall He break for the slave is our brother and in His name all oppression shall cease,” resonated with abolitionists, including Dwight himself. Originally written for classical soprano, the wide vocal range of the song makes it one of the more difficult Christmas songs to perform. We are so pleased to have Kayleigh Tolley perform this new arrangement by John Leavitt.
“Al Hanisim” is a special addition on Hanukkah and Purim to the daily prayer of thanksgiving. Hanukkah 2022 will begin in the evening of Sunday, December 18 and end in the evening of Monday, December 26. Often called the Festival of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah and sharing of traditional foods, games, and gifts. The holiday celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C. Hanukkah is the Hebrew word for “dedication.” The history of the holiday is tied to the time when Israel was struggling for existence. It is believed that after a successful revolt against a tyrannical monarch, the victorious Jewish community could find very little pure olive oil to light the Menorah, only enough for one day. However, the oil lasted for eight days, long enough to purify more oil. Jewish people light a candle on each of the eight evenings in remembrance of God’s provision.
Tapestry Singers has a tradition of including wassail songs in the December concerts. During the gloom of midwinter, people went through the villages from door to door, singing songs to get some reward of drink or money. The “Somerset Wassail” song accompanies the parading of a wassail bowl, filled with drink, from house to house. Listeners would be invited to drink from the bowl for good luck and in return make a contribution of money, or more drink, or, preferably, both. The “Apple Tree Wassail” is from the cider-making regions of southern and western England, where people would gather around a big, old apple tree and sing traditional songs. They made noise through the branches to scare away spirits and toasted the tree’s health with warm cider passed around in a bucket. The word “Wassail” comes from the Anglo Saxon expression “wes hal,” meaning “be of good health.”
Tapestry Singers wish you good health for the coming year!
Audience is kindly requested to turn off cell phones. There will be no intermission.
See Amid the Winter’s SnowDan Forrest (b. 1978)
Carillon on a Ukrainian Bell CarolGerald Near (b. 1942) Organ solo: Sean Fleming
Poem: The Snowfall Is So Silent Miguel de Unamundo, Translated by Robert Bly Reader: Jenny Brown
Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
Poem: We Shall Forever Celebrate Light, Suzanne Sabransky Reader: Zora Margolis
Season of LightJacob Narverud (b.1986)
Al HanisimPaul Shoenfield (b. 1947) GlowEric Whitacre (b. 1970)
O Holy NightJohn Leavitt (b. 1956) Kayleigh Tolley, soloist
Stille NachtArr. Chip Davis (b. 1947)
Somerset WassailTraditional Soloists: Gordon Clark, Franklin Holland, Don Osier, John Strong, Paul Velleman
Apple Tree WassailArr. Stephen Hatfield (b. 1956)
What Child Is This?Arr. Vince Guiraldi (1928-1976)
Glory Glory Glory to the Newborn KingArr. Moses Hogan (1957-2003) Brennan Cruz, soloist
Have Yourself a Merry Little ChristmasArr. Mark Hayes (b. 1953) Kayleigh Tolley
A Holiday Sing-Along (lyrics in program)Arr. Bruce Healey (b.1950)
Auld Lang SyneArr. Mairi Campbell, David Francis, Michael Hanawalt, Justine Sasanfar Kayleigh Tolley, soloist
There’s No Place Like HomeArr. Greg Gilpin (b. 1964) for the Holidays
Kayleigh Tolley and Brennan Cruz, soloists
Carol Preston, Violin Julia O’Brien-Merrill, Violin Jeanie Wester, Viola April Reed-Cox, Cello Nan White, Flute Kristen Fox, Oboe Sean Potter, Clarinet Carolyn Kanicki, Horn Quinn Gormley, Mallets and Percussion
Where words fail, music speaks. Hans Christian Andersen
Thank you, Tapestry Singers. Matthew H. Newman, Esq. LYNCH & NEWMAN, LLC www.lynchnewman.com
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Deck the hall with boughs of holly (chorus) Fa la la la la la la la la ’Tis the Season to be jolly Don we now our gay apparel Troll the ancient yuletide carol Fast away the old year passes Hail the new, ye lads and lasses Sing we joyous all together Heedless of the wind and weather
Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow in a onehorse open sleigh O’er the fields we go laughing all the way.
Bells on Bobtail ring making spirits bright.
What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight!
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells. Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride in a onehorse open sleigh. Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells. Jingle all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a onehorse open sleigh.
O Christmas Tree
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, How lovely are your branches
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, How lovely are your branches
Not only green in summer’s glow But ever green in winter’s snow.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, How lovely are your branches
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas And a Happy New Year!
Glad tidings we bring to you and your kin Glad tidings for Christmas And a Happy New Year! We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry Christmas And a Happy New Year!
The snowfall is so silent, so slow, bit by bit, with delicacy it settles down on the earth and covers over the fields. The silent snow comes down white and weightless; snowfall makes no noise, falls as forgetting falls, flake after flake. It covers the fields gently while frost attacks them with its sudden flashes of white; covers everything with its pure and silent covering; not one thing on the ground anywhere escapes it. And wherever it falls it stays, content and gay, for snow does not slip off as rain does, but it stays and sinks in. The flakes are skyflowers, pale lilies from the clouds, that wither on earth. They come down blossoming but then so quickly they are gone; they bloom only on the peak, above the mountains, and make the earth feel heavier when they die inside. Snow, delicate snow, that falls with such lightness on the head, on the feelings,
come and cover over the sadness that lies always in my reason.
Originally published on Ritualwell.org
Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights. It is a joyous celebration of our journey
From darkness into brightness. The telling of a story we all know so well...
And it gently reminds us that this journey, Out of darkness and back into the light, Is one which never ends... We will repeat it, again, and again, and again,
As each day, another candle is added, Each night is filled with more light than the one before. A single candle provides us light; combined they light our way, Pushing back the darkness of our souls, and illuminating our lives.
This holiday reminds us; darkness lives ceaselessly at the edge of light, Yet light has strength, and the power to overcome darkness. Our people have always had the strength to overcome darkness, And even in the darkest of days, we shall forever celebrate light.
See Amid the Winter’s Snow See, amid the winter's snow, Born for us on Earth below, See, the tender Lamb appears, Promised from eternal years.
Hail, thou ever blessed morn, Hail redemption's happy dawn, Sing through all Jerusalem, Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Lo, within a manger lies He who built the starry skies; He who, throned in height sublime, Sits among the cherubim.
Sacred Infant, all divine, What a tender love was Thine, Thus to come from highest bliss Down to such a world as this.
Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)
O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, iacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Iesum Christum. Alleluia!
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord, Jesus Christ. Alleluia!
Season of Light Come sit by the fire and share stories of old,
Bright visions of time and of wonders we’re told. Surrounded by comfort and stillness of night, We live in the memories of the season of light. Come join in the cheer of the fresh falling snow, Where wonder and radiance set hearts all aglow. For a moment on Earth all that’s wrong turns to right And we’re warm in the spirit of the season of light.
Al Hanisim
And for the miracles and for the wonders And for the mighty deeds and for the salvations And for the victories that you wrought for our ancestors in their days and in this day
Softly falls the winter snow, whispers to the sleeping world below: “Wintertide awakes,” morning breaks and sets the earth aglow. In gentle tones of warmest white, Proclaim the glory of Aurora's light. Sparrow sings in a clear clean voice, a sweet, silver carol for the season born. Radiant wings as the skies rejoice, Arise and illuminate the morn. Softly falls the winter snow, whispers to the sleeping world below: “Glow, like the softly falling snow.”
Stepping Stone Housing Inc. is a 501c (3) non-profit corporation that has been providing affordable, transitional, and permanent housing for individuals and families in Lincoln County Maine since 2013.
We are a local, volunteer run, grassroots program dedicated to helping those who earn less than a living wage find housing as a "stepping stone" to a better life.
SSHI, Inc. owns several properties in Bremen, Bristol, and Damariscotta, with the intention of expanding the number of housing units in the years to come. We currently serve over a dozen individuals.
Sean Fleming is an in-demand keyboard artist, accompanist, and arranger. He performs regularly with the Bowdoin Chorus, Down East Singers, Lincoln Academy Lincolnaires, Lincoln Festival Chorus, Midcoast Community Chorus, St. Cecilia Chamber Choir, Sheepscot Valley Chorus, and Tapestry Singers. He performs regularly with his two bands, the Sean Fleming Ragtime Band, and the Sean Fleming Dixieland Band. He is on the roster of the Amethyst Chamber Ensemble, and is a member of the Maine Friends of Music chamber ensemble. He is a member of the newly-formed professional vocal ensemble, Butterscotch Sock Hop. He was recently the music director for the Hearts Ever Young troupe. He regularly accompanies many high school and junior high festivals.
Fleming has worked with Ann Arbor Camerata, Bowdoin Chamber Choir, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival Chorus, Coastal Chorale, Colby College Chorale, Maine Pro Musica, Oratorio Chorale, Renaissance Voices, University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society, University of Southern Maine Chorale, University of Southern Maine Chamber Singers, and Vox Nova Chamber Choir. He has directed or accompanied over 80 musical theater productions nationwide. A piano and organ recitalist who has performed throughout the United States, Fleming studied organ and piano with Ray Cornils, John Doney, Michael Lindsey, and Gerald McGee. For the past 28 years he has served as organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Newcastle. He was the recipient of a 2009 St. Botolph Club Foundation grant award.
Food is music to the body, Music is the food to the hear t ~G.D. Roberts
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Kayleigh Tolley is a mezzo soprano hailing from Waldoboro, Maine. She is a fourth-year, double-degree student at Oberlin College and Conservatory pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She is currently a student of Dr. Katherine Jolly and former student of Beth Preston. Throughout her time at Oberlin, she has performed in masterclasses with renowned singers Gregory Kunde and Elizabeth Koch. She was the 2021 recipient of the Eleanor Erdman and Diane Nixon Prize for Vocal Excellence.
She most recently performed as a soloist with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, under the direction of Tim Weiss, and sang the role La Zelatrice in Bel Canto in Tuscany’s production of Suor Angelica, conducted by Beatrice Benzi in Greve, Italy. She made her opera debut last winter as Fidalma in Oberlin Opera Theater’s production of Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto. In January, she will be playing the role of Zandra in the world premiere of Melissa Dunphy’s new opera, Alice Tierney, at Oberlin Conservatory.
Brennan Cruz, tenor from Bremen, Maine, is a sophomore at Lehigh University majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Though music is not his major, it is definitely a passion. He sings in the Lehigh University Choir, led by conductor and composer Dr. Steven Sametz. The choir is known for its flexibility in singing both choral masterworks and frequently premiering new works written specially for them. He is also a member of the all-male Lehigh University Glee Club and the Melismatics, Lehigh’s oldest all gender student-run a cappella group. He is currently a voice student of internationally renowned soprano Jee Hyun Lim. He is a Lincoln Academy Lincolnaires alumnus and former voice student of Beth Preston. He is working toward a degree that will lead him to work in the aerospace or energy industries.
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