A Timeless Holiday
November 19, 2023
Special Guest: Church Choir Invitational
The Master Singers of Milwaukee kick off their 50th anniversary season with a performance inspired by both the holiday season and by a look back at their 50-year legacy of music-making. The concert features two pieces honoring the group’s founding. MSM was originally known as the Schütz Choir, so Heinrich Schütz’s hauntingly beautiful Selig sind die Toten will be performed followed by a newly commissioned work for MSM on the same text by Wisconsin composer Zachary Moore honoring MSM’s founder Marlys Greinke. The performance opens with John Rutter’s brilliant three-movement Gloria for choir and brass. This is followed by a variety of contemporary and historical holiday selections including a movement from composer Ariel Ramirez’s Navidad Nuestra and a stark reworking of Away in a Manger wrestling with the tragic consequences of modern-day refugee crises. Recent works by composers Andrea Ramsey, Reena Esmail, and Adrian Dunn appear on the second half of the program. Area church choirs are invited to join this event performing two large-group pieces part of a festival church choir and joining the MSM for their closing piece.
