Sun City’s Prairie Singers will present their 19th annual Christmas concert December 15 at Huntley High School’s performing arts center. The curtain rises at 2 p.m.
David Barth, the new director of the 20-year-old chorus, talked about imagination when he spoke to the Sun Day about one of the new songs in this year’s concert. He wants audience members to imagine this: think about a 17-year-old mother in a cold, dark stable, giving birth to a baby, as the chorus sings a beautiful ballad called, “In the Manger.”
Prairie Singers Christmas Concert
Advance concert tickets will be on sale in Prairie Lodge from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on December 10 and 13. Prices are $10 for adults and $3 for children 2-12. Adult ticket prices at the door on concert day will be $12.
“This is one of four new songs we are introducing this year,” said Barth, who became the Singers’ new director this past summer. “I have asked the chorus to think of this song in that way, and they will portray it that way in our program. We will encourage our audience to use their imagination as they listen to it.”
The overall concert theme is “Rejoice and be Merry.”
Many things are coming up new this Christmas season for the Singers, and Barth is the major one. He has directed choruses at three Chicago area suburban churches, has founded and directed two other singing groups in the area, and was the founder and for 20 years the director of Spirit of Life, an ecumenical Christian chorus of more than 100 members.
Barth’s arrival coincided with an aggressive internal effort this year led by the Prairie Singers board to recruit new members. When the chorus takes the stage on December 15, they will be almost 80 strong, their largest roster in the last decade. The chorus members are especially excited to welcome back Carolyn Kleen and Jeannie Bulmahn, two of the organization’s past presidents, who played major roles in developing the chorus in its early years.
The chorus’ officers for 2018-19 are Doug Steffey, president; Cynthia Church, vice president; Linda Weiss, secretary; and Gloria Lunn, treasurer.
Other new numbers in the concert include “Christmas Was Meant for Children,” another sacred ballad that Barth says reminds us to “always remember the infant.” Another new number will be “Mighty King, Awesome Lord,” that symbolizes Christmas as a time of dawning power and glory.
A special presentation of the famous poem, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” will offer a duet sung by Singers Ray Thomas and Jeanie La Cour, who is one of the group’s newest members.
The concert will also include traditional yuletide songs like Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” (The Christmas Song) by Mel Torme, “Fum, Fum, Fum, a traditional Catalonian Carol by Philip Kern,” and “Do You Hear What I Hear,” the shepherd’s carol by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne.
The chorus will conclude with the popular “Let There Be Peace On Earth,” which they will sing from the aisles in the performing arts center, along with the audience.
“I think the audience will hear an inspired and beautiful chorus in this concert,” said Barth. “I had one member come to me after a recent rehearsal and say, ‘You are getting more out of me then I ever thought I could ever give.’” he related. “That has been the spirit of our rehearsals this fall.”
