Hamline University A Cappella Christmas Concert

my [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] greedy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh yes [Music] ah [Music] cheers [Music] [Music] angels oh [Music] same [Music] [Music] oh lord [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] christ the lord [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] thank you for being with us this evening at hamlin church in saint paul and those of you who might be watching in alaska or brooklyn or wherever thank you for joining us and even though you can't see the smiles of this radiant group you can feel the warmth of their music in their hearts special thanks to four alumni of hamlin who are participating this evening ray kulp our trumpet player [Applause] [Music] and later you'll hear from martha mcdermott and holt hayfer and walter brown brought our two french soloists as you heard were marissa liao and katie basie katie will switch from the french into spanish which is one of her majors for this beautiful setting from the chapter of matthew in the bible esto lestigo this i say to you or two or three of you join in my name is there i am uh [Music] oh [Music] say [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Music] r [Music] r [Music] oh [Music] r [Music] oh [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] eric barnum a minnesota composer describes the breaking of day followed by a beautiful setting with piano of the music of stillness by elaine hagenberg [Music] on the doors [Music] i oh for me [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] until the final song [Music] r [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Applause] um [Music] me it will be [Music] is [Music] for foreign [Music] [Music] lord [Music] stillness [Music] oh [Music] this world i will make this world of my voices [Music] shall we [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] i shall fly stillness [Music] so [Music] [Applause] in all my years working with helen jensen i've never gotten her to take a bow but she was as many of you know the accompanist for the wonderful oratorio society of minnesota for many years and we're delighted to have that chance to work with kelly jensen on that beautiful piece that describes the beauty of winter that we're just starting to experience today with the rooftops covered with snow one of the tradition different in mood than that because over it gather around the wassail bowl to sing of their joys of their sense of community of their love for one another and we as the acapella choir have been very fortunate to travel to britain many times as a matter of fact toward the end you'll hear from holt heyfer who led the choir on our 2017 tour of britain and then with his cabinet laid the groundwork for our 2019 tour to germany austria and the czech republic with some incredible memories of singing in medieval churches and to audiences in that part of europe the a cappella choir actually has many alumni here tonight i recognize some even though behind the mask it's a little hard but we normally ask the alumni even if you're at home to stand and be recognized if you're alumni of the a cappella choir [Applause] believe it or not among them i saw the dad of one of my students here and the brother of one of my students here um so uh with your permission we have actually um well you know the alumni recall that sometimes there's less than the king's english in this wassail adaptation that we do so i hope you'll forgive some poetic license and this is an attempt to describe what life is like which we've all experienced in the past year when we were not able to give the christmas concert so it's a special thrill for us this year to do it and also to be live streamed at the same time would you enjoy the 2000 hello [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is made of the white maple tree with the walls [Music] to be honest this year has been really bad we're tired of having to go to class the crowd only laughs when we show our [Applause] [Music] is made of the white maple tree with the walls to thee [Music] we are the altos we're glad to be back it seems like our grades have been starting to lack and procrastination has been our great friend more quizzes test finals can't this year just end [Music] is made from the white maple tree with the wasp sailing to thee we are the tenors there's only us for i guess we were wrong it looks like there's more [Applause] we are very smart we have blocks of wit okay maybe not but we don't sound like the bases [Applause] is of a white with tree with a walling bowl we'll drain to thee [Music] we are the sopranos we've been [Music] but now we are back and harder than ever [Music] [Applause] is is made of a white maple tree with the walls [Music] we are the seniors it's here number four we've already [Music] year at this time we missed you all but certainly we won't be back [Music] is of the white paper tree with the wasp [Applause] hello and good evening to everyone my name is emma harrington and i am the current president of the hamilton university a cappella choir um on behalf on behalf of the officer board and the rest of the entire choir i want to welcome each and every one of you to our 2021 winter concert whether you are family or friends with someone in the choir acapella alumni hamlin faculty or just some random person who found our live stream link since this is the first year that our concert has ever been live streamed which is exciting we've worked really hard to prepare a meaningful and musical experience for all of us gathered here tonight and i'm truly grateful that everyone is taking the necessary precautions that allow us to gather safely and make this concert a reality we've obviously been through quite a year i don't want to bore us by going on and on about the struggles we've all come to know quite intimately over the past two years with the global pandemic but i do want to highlight the profound resiliency creativity and compassion that our choir members have displayed over the past year and a half it's been incredibly challenging as college students and i think it's worth taking a moment to celebrate us and all we've done amidst taking four classes and running student orgs on top of worrying about our friends and family's safety as kobit continues to spread last year we had no in-person require choir rehearsals at all but we still found ways to connect with each other during our online meetings we would answer a fun question of the day to learn new things about each other almost all the choir members prepared short presentations that they gave on some of their favorite musical topics we learned about each other's songs travels with other choirs unique instruments that some of us knew about and even soundscapes in film so we learned a lot about different musical things outside of just choir we did a great deal of listening to youtube together and learned more about music theory from dr chu a few times we even got brave enough to try singing together but with the lag time and the feedback in a video chat i'm sure you can imagine how great that sounded all in all the last year made me so incredibly proud of this choir we didn't give up though meeting in person and being able to sing is our main function as a choir we found unique and inventive ways to continue to connect with each other and share our passion for music which i think exemplifies the heart of what makes hamlin a cappella choir what it is yes the music is important but what really makes this group special is the feeling of family this gentle understanding that we all care for each other that no matter what your major is whether you're in sports or theater or mock trial or student leadership that this choir is a place you can belong for the juniors and seniors in the group we've been lucky enough to experience and foster this feeling of community on tours and retreats in january of 2019 as dr chu mentioned we traveled to germany austria and the czech republic we say with families and small towns where we gave concerts in these breathtaking decades-old churches and connected to the local culture and people it really solidified my strong bond with all the members in the choir and gave us chances to make friends with people that we might not have otherwise spent time with right before the pandemic we had a blissful retreat out at camp st croy in hudson wisconsin a couple choir members led the rest of the group in meaningful activities we even took a hike down to the river to throw chunks of ice at the frozen surface which was super fun these experiences help us to initiate and strengthen friendships within the choir and build meaningful special environment that is so unique about acapella sadly many of our members haven't had the chance to go on one of these trips or tours we are hoping that we can make these possible for our younger and incoming students this spring we're planning a return to camp st croy and with the pandemic willing we'll try to plan a future tour as well these fundamental experiences are not possible without your support as some of you may know our winter concert is our biggest fundraiser so we truly appreciate each and every one of you being a part of this wonderful night of music with us i'd like to extend my thanks to hamlin university methodist church for allowing us to sing in your beautiful place it's always such a pleasure to continue our connection with you thank you also to my fellow choir members for all your passion and hard work to make this concert possible i love you all so so much lastly i'd like to thank dr chu we are so grateful for such a kind and intelligent leader who was so dedicated to acapella's success i truly hope you all enjoy the rest of our concert that we've worked so hard to prepare again i feel so lucky to be able to stand here and speak to an actual audience may each of your holiday seasons be filled with joy light safety and love these are hard times but it's moments like these with people we love experiencing a musical moment bigger than any single one of us that fill our hearts with hope and courage with that i hope you enjoy the rest of the concert we appreciate your support any checks can be made payable to acapella choir that's an a and then a space and then capella with two p's and two l's so thank you [Applause] so so oh so uh so so so mr so my so uh so so [Applause] so so [Music] [Music] so so dog so future i wanted it friends [Music] the choir is chuckling downstairs because history repeats itself in funny ways sometimes when we start our french carol we start in the wrong key that's why that seemed a little atonal tonight if you'll forgive it but hopefully we've recovered since and you have to forgive us because we haven't sung for a whole year you know i mean so again thank you all for being here i'd like to recognize two dignitaries who lead this community one is the pastor of hamlet church pastor moriah this beautiful church and the other is the president of hamline university phineas miller thank you for being here this evening this time of year if you think back probably the nutcracker ballet was always a part of december and we're so pleased that martha mcdermott has come back as an alum of hamlin to play the march from the nutcracker suite by tchaikowski [Music] um [Applause] [Music] um [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] then [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so so [Applause] will particularly appreciate the next song the carol of the drum [Music] hmm [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] when we go [Music] [Music] oh [Laughter] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] fun [Applause] must have had us in mind when he wrote in the bleak mid-winter with becca osana as soloist [Music] [Music] oh [Music] lord [Music] when he comes [Music] of us [Music] may [Music] [Music] here [Music] worship the beloved [Music] give him for if i were [Music] if i were a wise man i would do my part [Music] [Applause] thank you we really you this evening even if you're far away from safety hamlin university we're written on the wall was i the son i believe in love i believe in god even when [Music] my [Music] my [Music] i believe [Music] i believe [Music] i believe [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] so [Music] now this is not directed at president miller but some of us faculty aren't in it for the money because the privilege of working with talented young people is greater than any gift in the world and some of our members of the audience have never missed an acapella choir concert christmas concert in their entire lives so they have a lot ahead of them too i think um this has been one of the most thrilling concerts for me coming after last year and if you think it's hard to follow the beauty of those pieces wait until you hear the kantik noel sung by emma harrington me [Music] what it is [Music] me [Music] [Music] oh the stars [Music] earth [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] christ was born [Music] [Music] [Applause] hello my name is holt hayfer and i am an alum of the hamlin a cappella choir i was the president of the choir during the 2015 and 2016 academic years as dr chu mentioned we traveled to britain one of my best memories from hamlin as this evening comes to a close i am reminded of the power of community over the past year and a half it has been challenging to feel connected but we are here together in this moment and that's special whether in person in church this evening or watching online what unifies us is an appreciation of music leo buscaglia a late academic known for his research on the psychological benefits of hugs studied the importance of feeling connected to your community in his book love he states too often we underestimate the power of a touch a smile a kind word a listening ear an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring all of which have the potential to turn a life around i invite you to take a moment with me to think about the reason you're here whether it's to support a child in the choir or because it's a family tradition to squeeze in a bit more holiday cheer we have an opportunity to express our gratitude for this special community so while a hug or smile might not be possible for all of us this year consider turning to the person who brought you here or a person close to you and thank them for including you in this tradition after all the smallest act this evening could be all the cheer needed to get someone through the silent nights this season [Applause] [Music] [Music] uh hmm [Music] [Music] straw [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] r [Music] [Music] is [Music] so so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so so [Applause] you

Channel: Hamline Church

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Id: Nm6xSKy-dJQ

Length: 95min 55sec (5755 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 06 2021