We had a wonderful Christmas Concert 2 weeks ago. The theme of the concert was "How Great our Joy." We have DVDs available from the Saturday night performance. We also have CDs with mixes from Friday/Saturday night. For the instrumentation we had piano, keyboard, drums, bass, electric/nylon string guitar, violin & cello. Vocally we had choir and solos/trios throughout. Here's a breakdown of the songs we did:
O Come, O Come Emmanuel - I love Advent hymns, especially this one. This is an arrangement I wrote for synth and electric guitar.
Christ is Born - great James Ward original. Full choir with rhodes/bass/drums/electric on this one. Maddy Campo solo.
Go Tell it On the Mountain - James Taylor arrangement. Full choir/orchestra. Bill Brown solo.
Kids Christmas Medley (Joy to the World, Away in a Manger, Silent Night) - Another Rick arrangmenet. Piano/bass/drums/nylon on this one. Joy to the World had hints of Bruce Hornsby; Away & Hark! had Vince Guaraldi feel.
Shepherds Echo Carol (How Great Our Joy) - title song for the concert. Classical in style. Piano/strings/choir
Star in the East - Along with my love for Advent hymns comes a love for Advent/Christmas tunes in a minor key. Full choir/orchestra. This one had a minor/Egyptian feel.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - mens chorus sang on this one. Piano accompaniment reminded me of Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody."
Angels We Have Heard on High - Fernando Ortega's arrangmenet written for trio. Very fitting sound for South Florida. Kenny Pierleoni sang lead. Robin Puentes and Rob Benson sang harmony.
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly - acappella choir. Nothing too fancy with the arrangement, but some tunes are better not messed with.
O Little Town of Bethlehem - arranged by me. Anything I arrange for accappella choir is going to be influenced by Glad or Take 6. Tony Puntes sang lead on this one.
All My Heart This Night Rejoices - this is a jewel of a song I found in the Trinity Hymnal. I kept the same melody but altered the meter to make more rhythmic sense. The words are absolutely beautiful. I also inserted the 1st verse of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" in the middle. Full choir/orchestra. Melissa Scasserra sang lead.
Silent Night - Casting Crowns arrangmenet written for trio. Dwight Taylor, Katie Taylor, and Rachel Puentes sang.
Angels' Carol - this was another diamond in the rough I found. This is a tune written by John Rutter (renowned in the choral world). I can remember singing this as a soprano in a boys choir when I was younger. While searching through our church library last summer, I re-discovered it and decided to arrange it with more of a pop/R&B style. Full choir/orchestra. Theo Campo & Bobbilee Tanner sang lead.
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