December 8, 2023

St. Cecilia Parish to present 25th Festival of Carols Dec. 10 at 4 p.m.

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Rebecca Drake

 

WILBRAHAM – Some might say, “Timing is everything.”

So members of the St. Cecilia Adult Choir are hoping a change of time for the annual Festival of Carols from evening to late afternoon will make it easier to attend the annual Christmas concert, which will be held on Sunday, Dec. 10 at 4 p.m. in the church, located at 42 Main St. in Wilbraham. The performance is free but a free will offering will be accepted.

The time change was first suggested by longtime choir member and alto Luanna Roberts. She noted that many people do not want to go out on Sunday nights. “I think there will be a larger audience,” she said. “They can go out to a beautiful concert and then go out to dinner or go home and eat dinner.”

Other choir members echoed Roberts’ feelings about the change to 4 p.m.

“It is my hope that the new earlier hour will open up opportunities for more young families and seniors to enjoy the spirit of Christmas through music,” said soprano Gail Manning, also a longtime member of the adult choir.

Soprano Diane Diehl, whose husband Bruce is a music professor at Amherst College, said, “I’m looking forward to the earlier concert start. I think this time will allow more families, young and old, to attend, perhaps then sharing a nice dinner together afterwards.

“It can be hard on people who work on Mondays or have young children, or just go to bed earlier, to attend concerts late on Sunday nights,” she said. She recalled the first time she heard the Christmas concert at St. Cecilia’s.

“Bruce and I were in the audience in 2002,” Diehl said. “We were looking for a parish to join that had a deep and rich music ministry. I still remember turning to Bruce, with tears streaming down my face, saying ‘This is our new home.’ I joined the choir the next fall and Bruce became one of our instrumentalists and arrangers.” 

Choir members, along with music director Todd Rovelli, also reflected on the earlier years of the Festival of Carols as they prepare for the concert’s 25^th program.

“The Festival of Carols, which began in 1998 as a traditional service of nine lessons and carols, has evolved into a not-to-be-missed concert experience,” said Rovelli. The program includes a wide range of holiday music, both secular and sacred, from classical to jazz and contemporary popular songs.

“My goal is to put together a varied program, including some cool arrangements of Christmas favorites, congregational singing, and four-hand piano duets,” Rovelli said. “There really is something for everyone. I am as excited now as I was when I first began to produce the concert because the music never fails to uplift and inspire me, the choir, and the audience.”

This year’s program includes traditional carols, such as “The Little Drummer Boy”; “In the Bleak Midwinter”; “Do You Hear What I Hear”; and “O Holy Night.” There is a jazz arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard on High” and the island groove of “Calypso Deck the Hall.” St. Cecilia cantors Leo Morrissey, Carol Adamski and Jena Fallon will join together for “Child of the Poor/What Child Is This?”

In addition to piano and organ, instrumental accompaniment includes saxophone, clarinet, flute, percussion, and trumpet.

While Roberts and Diehl reminisced about previous concerts featuring children and youth members of the parish, “sounding like angels,” they said the best part of the concerts has always been the audience.

“I sing in this choir because it not only brings me great joy but I feel it gives joy to the congregation,” Roberts said. “The look on their faces is a wonderful thing… My wish is that they leave feeling blessed and full of joy.”

“By far it is the smiles and thank you’s from the audience that makes me feel so blessed and happy,” said Diehl, “to know that for a few hours we can touch so many hearts.”

“I would like everyone at the concert to leave with smiles on their faces, peace in their hearts, and to share that joy with others this Christmas season,” Diehl added.

The 2023 concert will have special meaning for alto Janet Shea, since she and her husband will be moving to a retirement home in another state next year. “The choir feels like family and the spirit of the holidays blankets everyone there in joy,” she said. “I will miss these events more than anything else we do.”