Chamber Singers to Perform Dec. 3-4

by Richard Veit

Baylor University's Chamber Singers will perform their 1995 Christmas concerts on Sunday, Dec. 3, and on Monday, Dec. 4, in the McLean Foyer of Meditation in the Armstrong Browning Library. The Sunday concert will begin at 3 p.m., and the Monday presentation will be at 8 p.m.
The 16-voice Chamber Singers are conducted by Donald Bailey, the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Music, director of vocal studies, and director of choral activities. Their accompanist is Mary Bashara.
This year's pair of Christmas concerts will open with David Willcocks's arrangement of "Once in Royal David's City." Then the Chamber Singers will turn to Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "In Nativitatem Domini," in which they will be joined by instrumental faculty members Doris DeLoach (oboe), Stephen Heyde (violin), Gary Hardie (cello), and Harry Elzinga (harpsichord). Later in the evening, those same four instrumentalists will perform George Frideric Handel's "Sonata in B-flat Major."
Among the program's highlights are two pieces by the great 20th-century French composer, Francis Poulenc ("O Magnum Mysterium" and "Hodie"), Anton Bruckner's "Ave Maria," and "The Blessed Son of God" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Two selections will be conducted by Emeritus Professor of Choral Music Robert H. Young, who founded the Chamber Singers more than 30 years ago.
The Chamber Singers' Christmas concerts are free and open to the public. However, due to the limited seating capacity in Armstrong Browning Library, early arrival is recommended. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 755-3991.