Holy Trinity Episcopal Church – 7:30 PM
1601 Raeford Rd., Fayetteville, NC
Featuring the Campbellton Youth Chorus
The idea of combining a children’s choir with an adult one is, of course, nothing new, but most of these works tend to treat the young voices as a subsidiary musical resource. In his Mass of the Children, however, the composer has given the children’s choir a central part to play. It is they, not the adults, who are heard at the very outset, and their role throughout is integral to the overall concept of the Mass. As always, with Rutter, the music is beautifully written for the voices and superbly orchestrated. His skillful writing for soloists, choirs, and orchestra and his sensitive interweaving of the various Latin and English texts has resulted in one of his finest and most moving works.
Berean Baptist Church – 7:30 PM
517 Glensford Dr, Fayetteville, NC 28314
With the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra
Kick off your holiday season with the annual Fayetteville tradition attracting hundreds! This “Gift to the Community” is a partnership with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. Typically, we invite anyone who has sung this piece to join us from the audience or attend rehearsal and stand with the choir! The performance is what is typically known as the “Christmas portion” of the work, ending with the famous “Hallelujah Chorus!” No ticket is necessary for the concert.
Seabrook Auditorium – 7:30 PM
Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC
Celebrate Black History Month with us as this year’s theme is the “Harlem Renaissance.” It was a period of rich cross-disciplinary artistic and cultural activity among African Americans between the end of World War I (1917) and the onset of the Great Depression and led up to World War II (the 1930s). It featured musicians like Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and the writings of Langston Hughes, who still inspire us today.
Haymount United Methodist Church – 7:30 PM
1700 Fort Bragg Rd, Fayetteville, NC 28303
In a few short years, Richard Burchard has become one of the most sought-after and commissioned composers for choral music. His choral writing is romantic and rich harmonically, with dense contrapuntal lines. Now he has brought that excellence into an extended multi-movement work on the “Seven Last Words of Christ.” This 45-minute work is a breathtaking piece of music.
E. E. Smith High School – 7:30 PM
1800 Seabrook Rd., Fayetteville, NC
Featuring the E. E. Smith High School Chorus
The idea of theming this concert under the name “Colors” opens the door to many possibilities! While the term can be readily defined as the standard conventional colors we have to represent art and the things around us, it can also mean the particular sound of a piece of music, a shade of “meaning,” the pigmentation of skin, or the influence of opinion or fact. Join us as we experiment with “color” to bring a wonderful end to the season featuring these very talented students!
“Voices of a Community”
They come from all walks of life, and all with a love of song. “No more than one-fourth of the members are professional musicians,” Alan Porter once said of the chorus he founded in 1992, after the bicentennial of 17th century classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s death. “I put together a choir that consisted of my college choral group plus a large number of townspeople. We did the Mozart Requiem. When it was over, the singers didn’t want to break up. They said, ‘Why can’t we keep it going?’” Today, after a quarter of a century, the voices of the Cumberland Oratorio Singers, under the direction of Dr. Michael Martin, continue to perform from Huff Concert Hall at Methodist University to Seabrook Auditorium at Fayetteville State University, and continue to work with music partners to include the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. “It has been an honor to serve and represent our great community through our gifts of music and friendship,” Martin said. “Conducting this organization has been a highlight of my conducting career.” Enshrined as the 28th inductee by the Community Concerts Board of Directors at The Crown Theatre. March 18, 2017
Cumberland Choral Arts (CCA), founded in 1991 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, as the Cumberland Oratorio Singers, is a mixed-voice community choir committed to bringing the finest choral music to the Fayetteville and greater Sandhills area and has performed many of the great classical works, as well as favorites from stage and screen, jazz, and opera. Our passion to bring world-class choral music to the community was rewarded in 2017 when we were inducted into the Fayetteville Music Hall of Fame along with our founder, Mr. Alan Porter.
The Cross Creek Chorale (CCC), a smaller select-voice ensemble, expands the repertoire of the group for concerts and community appearances. The addition of the Campbellton Youth Chorus (CYC), comprised of students ages 9 – 16 from throughout Cumberland County, provides opportunities for tomorrow’s singers to experience and perform world-class choral music.
Inspired by the joy of singing and hearing choral music, Cumberland Choral Arts strives to be a premiere symphonic chorus through the outstanding performance of choral masterworks. With a commitment to excellence and education for 30 years, we work collaboratively with all singers to foster a vibrant, diverse, and interactive choral community, educate our singers and audiences, and extend our reach to the youth of Cumberland County and the Sandhills region.
