Combined 60-voice chorus, 20-piece orchestra to present Magnificat

Bennington County Choral Society (BCCS), in collaboration with Mount Anthony Union High School Chamber Singers, presents Magnificat, A Celebration of Praise, on Sunday, December 8, 2024, at 3:00 pm, at Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 238 Main St., Bennington, Vermont. A selection of traditional and contemporary seasonal music, pulled from both religious and secular texts, rounds out the performance.

For this concert, BCCS Artistic Director, Brian Dukeshier, PhD, is proud to announce the musical collaboration of 40 adult members of BCCS and 20 MAUHS Chamber Singer student performers under the direction of Lynn Sweet. Accompanying the combined groups will be a 20-piece orchestra, including grand piano and harp. BCCS is thrilled to share this architecturally massive and acoustically impressive venue with an energetic, youthful generation of talented musical voices.

Magnificat is a long-standing, traditional liturgical text adapted from the Bible's Luke 1, set to music by scores of composers over nearly a millennium. The title translates to "(my soul) magnifies (the Lord)," as sung by the Virgin Mary as a message of hope, praise, and wonder. A broader interpretation includes offering hope to -- and lifting up those who are oppressed by -- the powerful classes. This work, composed by Taylor Scott Davis in 2020, is a contemporary reinterpretation featuring soaring voices, theatrical orchestral settings and rich, moving texts.

To accompany such a powerful piece, the program also features works performed by BCCS, including Ecce Novum, by contemporary composer Ola Gjeilo; Away in a Manger as a wordless carol; Edward Elgar's The Snow; Franz Biebl's Ave Maria; and Healey Willan's Hodie Christus Natus Est, our third performance of a variation on this traditional favorite.

In his BCCS conducting debut, Assistant Conductor Benjamin April directs Eric Whitacre's Glow.

MAUHS singers, conducted by Lynn Sweet, will also present Walker's Let the Life I Lived Speak for Me, Brumfield's No Time, Hayes's Alleluia, and Johnson's Elijah Rock.

The concert opens the 86th season of BCCS and its affiliated prior local choral groups. Advance adult tickets are available online at www.benningtoncountychoralsociety.org and from chorus members ($20), or at the door ($25); college students with ID ($10); students age 5-18 ($5); children under 5 are free.

In the spirit of the season, concert attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to support the Greater Bennington Community Services' Kitchen Cupboard, a non-profit organization serving our neighbors in Bennington County with respectful access to their basic needs of food, shelter, and healthcare.

Please email Ed Heys at heysinvt@comcast.net with comments and questions.

Event Info

Dec 28, 2024, 1:30 to 3 PM

Dec 29, 2024, 3 PM

Dec 29, 2024, 7 PM