Portland Choir & Orchestra's video: Backstage with Portland Choir Orchestra Episode 3: Christmas Stories

Welcome to “Backstage with Portland Choir & Orchestra.” This is our podcast series where we pull back the curtain on some of our performances and take a closer look at the music: its background, its meaning and why we thought our audience would like it. 00:00 Today’s theme: Christmas stories. In each episode I am joined by one of our conductors—today by Dr. David Thomas, Artistic Director of Portland Choir & Orchestra, and we look back through our archives to find examples from our performances that correspond to our theme. I think you will enjoy learning a bit about the background of these musical numbers, but I think you will especially enjoy watching and listening to the performances armed with new insights about them. Today's musical selections each tell a Christmas story: The first with a narrator, the second through dance, and the third with video: 01:49 Longfellow’s Christmas, lyrics by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, musical setting by Mack Wilberg, narrator: Edmund Stone 19:09 ’Twas The Night Before Christmas, lyrics by Clement C. Moore, music by Ken Darby, feat. Fired-Up Dance Academy 30:23 What Shall We Give?, traditional Catalonian carol, English text by David Warner, arr. Mack Wilberg To learn more about Edmund Stone visit https://www.allclassical.org/author/edmundstone/ To learn more about Fired-Up Dance Academy visit http://firedupdanceacademy.com These 2 Tabernacle Choir videos were referenced in this episode: - What Shall We Give: https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/videos/what-shall-we-give-christmas-music-video.html - O Come Little Children: https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/videos/o-come-little-children-music-video.html You can watch two of today's musical selections directly on YouTube (without analysis or commentary): Longfellow’s Christmas: https://youtu.be/8zrwnG1W6GU ’Twas The Night Before Christmas: https://youtu.be/7r7M8rfS5lI To watch more Christmas music performed by Portland Choir & Orchestra, click here: https://www.youtube.com/c/PortlandChoirOrchestra/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=8