Pend Oreille Chorale and Chamber Orchestra offers free holiday concerts

By Reader Staff

The Pend Oreille Chorale and Chamber Orchestra will present two free concerts Friday, Dec 13 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m., both at the First Lutheran Church of Sandpoint (526  S. Olive Ave.).

The chorale will open the concert with a piece by contemporary Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo called “Prelude,” based on the style of 12th-century church music. Following that will be “Jubilate” by Felix Mendelssohn and “Prayer of St. Francis,” which George Mabry set to music in 2009, accompanied by Annie Welle. Closing the vocal portion of the concert is the energetic “Dona Nobis Pacem” (“Grant us Peace”), Ludwig van Beethoven. Just before intermission, two movements of a string trio by romantic composer Antonin Dvorak will feature Gayle McCutchan and Janet Peterson on violin, and Marcy Hogan on viola.

After intermission, the opening selection will be “Eternal Source of Light Divine,” by George Frideric Handel, with string orchestra and alto soloists Deanna Benton and Amelia Polocz each performing one concert. The piece also showcases trumpet by Aryan Riener. 

McCutchan will perform Arvo Part’s 1978 piece “Spiegel im Spiegel” (“Mirror in Mirror”), with piano accompaniment from Caren Reiner, and the string orchestra will follow with a “Concerto in G Minor” by Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti. By contrast will be Edward Elgar’s well known late-romantic composition “Nimrod,” followed by another trio — this time composed for violin, viola and flutist Alisha Dawson by 20th-century composer Max Reger.

Closing the concert will be “Jubilate Deo” (“Be Joyful Unto the Lord”), by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with the chorale and chamber orchestra. 

“This will send you out the door feeling upbeat and positive,” said Choral Director Caren Reiner. “We all need that, especially now.”