GUILFORD — Friends of Music at Guilford is seeking voices (especially tenors and basses) for the Guilford Chamber Singers, to rehearse for the organization's 40th annual “Christmas at Christ Church” program on Dec. 7 and 8.
This year, the singers are performing selections from the a cappella Alfred Burt Carols (1942-1954), which were set to texts by Burt's father, Bates G. Burt, and Wihla Hutson as “musical Christmas cards” for friends and family.
When the complete collection of 15 carols was published shortly after Burt's untimely death from cancer at the age of 33 in 1954, they became choir staples for the holiday season. Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, and James Taylor are among the many high-profile solo performers who helped popularize these musical forms. The Guilford Chamber Singers are planning to sing 10 in all, including the familiar Caroling, Caroling and Some Children See Him.
Tom Baehr, serves as this season's Chamber Singers conductor. Baehr has sung with the Guilford Chamber Singers, as well as the Brattleboro Concert Choir and the Blanche Moyse Chorale. His has conducted in venues from public schools to church choirs and musical theater productions. He participated in the Conductors Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst this summer.
Weekly rehearsals start in mid-September at a location to be announced in Brattleboro. The last few rehearsals will be in Christ Church at the corner of Melendy Hill Road and Route 5, just a short distance beyond the Guilford Country Store.
Interested singers should contact Baehr through the Friends of Music office at 802-254-3600 or office@fomag.org.