BRATTLEBORO — Over Columbus Day weekend, the Blanche Moyse Chorale again honors the memory of its founder, Blanche Moyse, by performing a favorite selection of J.S. Bach's choral music.
This year's selection is the “Christmas Oratorio.”
But why in October? Simply because Mme. Moyse's celebrated New England Bach Festival (NEBF: 1969-2004) was always held in early October. Thus the scheduling of her annual Memorial Concert has followed the same tradition.
Moreover, while Bach's oratorio does tell the Biblical Christmas story, this great work of art touches on many aspects of human experience, and transcends the specifics of the Christian holiday calendar.
The third annual Blanche Moyse Memorial Concert will be performed twice: at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, at the Bellows Falls Opera House, in Bellows Falls, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13, at Marlboro College's Persons Auditorium, in Marlboro.
Under the direction of Mary Westbrook-Geha, who sang mezzo-soprano roles in the NEBF for nearly two decades, the Memorial Concert will treat its audience to complete performances of all six cantatas which make up the “Christmas Oratorio.”
Its choral movements are complemented by recitatives and arias sung by four soloists: soprano Hyunah Yu and tenor Steven Paul Spears, who both appeared often in later NEBF productions, and mezzo-soprano Katherine Maysek and baritone James Rittenhouse, relative newcomers to Mme. Moyse's legacy.
The Chorale and the vocal soloists will be ably supported by the Blanche Moyse Memorial Orchestra, a baroque ensemble consisting largely of NEBF veterans.
It features familiar names in its principal roles: Strings: Mitsuru Tsubota, Mayuki Fukuhara, Louise Schulman, Daire FitzGerald, and John T. Kulowitsch; woodwinds: Stephen Taylor, Mark Hill, and Charles McCracken; brass: Michael Gorham and Julie Landsman; organ: Gregory Hayes; Timpani: Charles Kiger.
The Blanche Moyse Chorale, founded in 1978 as a program of the Brattleboro Music Center, is a chamber chorus of some 30 singers, who strive to attain the high level of musical artistry exemplified by its original director, Blanche Moyse.
For many years, the Chorale was the choral arm of the New England Bach Festival. Since 2007, director Mary Westbrook-Geha has led the Chorale in performances of works by Handel, Copland, Stravinsky, Mendelssohn, Britten, Palestrina, Schütz, Brahms, and Bach.
Although it's based in the Brattleboro area, the Chorale includes singers from neighboring states and beyond.
Both performances are sponsored by Vermont Public Radio.