The Victoria Chamber Orchestra will be having its Baroque Christmas Concert later this month; it will feature numerous classical Christmas concertos. Violinist Don Kissinger says that the concert mainly consists of music that explores famous Christmas themes like the birth of Christ.
“Most of the concert’s music has to do with what are called Christmas concertos, which are musical pieces that describe the birth of Christ… like a blessed evening,” says Kissinger. “They always end with a very gentle, slow moving pastoral, like a celebration of peace… The most famous one of them is Arcangelo Corelli’s Op. 6 No. 8, his Christmas concerto.”
Kissinger says most of the music that will be performed in this concert comes from the Baroque period.
“Well, one of the really good things we did last week was we had a rehearsal with Julia Wedmen, who’s a baroque specialist with [orchestra/choir] Tafelmusik,” says Kissinger. “She was working with us in terms of Baroque technique, Baroque ideas of the music, and Baroque bowings. Because, you see, all of these pieces are from the Baroque period in 1650… We were lucky enough to get her for one evening to work with us in terms of Baroque technique. That was one of the best things we experienced.”
Some of the major challenges in putting the concert together were getting the musical bowings just right, as well as dealing with the musicians’ conflicting schedules.
“One of the challenges we have is getting our bowings,” says Kissinger. “Where are the up bows, where are the down bows? Getting our bowings organized early enough so that we can start rehearsing with the bowings marked in our music. A lot of our people are busy doing other kinds of music as well and doing jobs, so it’s not that easy to get that done. That’s one of the challenges, getting the bowings synchronized early enough so we can mark our parts early enough before the rehearsals.”
What Kissinger loves about Christmastime is listening to Christmastime concertos, like the ones that will be performed at the concert, because they provoke strong emotional feelings.
“I enjoy the Christmas music,” says Kissinger. “Regardless of whether one is religious or not, you get strong emotions from these kinds of work. They are really well done.”
Kissinger says that the main thing he really would love for the audience to experience during the concert is a feeling of bliss.
“I think Baroque music is easy to listen to, and I hope they take away some of the resolution of peacefulness that all of these works tend to conclude with, because, as I say, these concertos grossi for the birth of Christ are almost a style,” he says. “You can recognize them… It’s generally because you sense this feeling of restfulness. Excitement but then closing with a sort of restfulness and bliss. I would love it if people would leave the concert with the sense of feeling some bliss during the concert or leaving the venue with a feeling of blissfulness. That would be great.”
Victoria Chamber Orchestra Baroque Christmas Concert
7:30 pm Friday, November 25
$15 student tickets (music students are free),
First Metropolitan Church
victoriachamberorchestra.org