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Event
Best Of Halalisa April 8, 2018 3:00 PM
The Halalisa Singers under the direction of Artistic Director Mary Cunningham reprise highlights from their extensive repertoire in Best of The Halalisa Singers: Favorites from 25 Years of Singing.
The groups 30 singers hail from Arlington, Ayer, Boston, Chelmsford, Lexington, Lincoln, Lowell, Maynard, Medford, Newton, Reading, Sudbury, Watertown, West Roxbury, Winchester, and Woburn. They will be accompanied by percussionist Bertram Lehmann and pianist Trevor Berens.
Tickets are $20, $15 advance.
For information call 781-648-5579, email info@halalisa.org, or visit www.halalisa.org.
Saturday, April 7, 8 p.m. at Follen Church, 755 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington.
Sunday, April 8, 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading, 239 Woburn St., Reading.
The groups name, Halalisa, is taken from a Zulu word meaning celebration, and reflects the ensembles mission to deliver music that uplifts, energizes, comforts, and brings joy.
According to Artistic Director Cunningham, vocalizing is an international tool for human synergy. In every culture of the world, singing together has served as a means to connect people spiritually and communally. She adds that it can also help unite disparate groups and plays an important role in our increasingly diverse society. Music brings us together through common experience of heart and mind, bridges what divides us, and unites us in common purpose. Through the support of community we can go out and build a better world.
Among the pieces to be performed are Eric Whitacres luscious Seal Lullaby, Nick Pages lively arrangement of Hamishar Asar, Joan Szymkos African-influenced It Takes a Village, and Paul Halleys monumental Freedom Trilogy, a piece that weaves Western classical music, popular South African songs, and Amazing Grace in a tour de force of choral power. Abun Dbashmaiyo presents a gorgeous setting of the Lords Prayer in Aramaic. The Macedonian Sto Mi e Milo offers the unparalleled rhythmic joy of Balkan music, while Morten Lauridsens choral classic Sure on This Shining Night overflows with lush, exquisite harmonies.
Spirituals have long been a Halalisa staple, and the group brings back some of its most crowd pleasing with Home in dRock, Lord, I Know I Been Changed, This Little Light of Mine, and Sweet Honey in the Rocks poignant and powerful Ellas Song.
Comic relief comes in the form of the Irish song Rakes of Mallow, about the cads and rascals from the town of Mallow in County Cork. The Japanese round Hotaru Koi invites smiles with its precise and delicate homage to the firefly. The group goes south of the border with a rousing rendition of the Cuban favorite Guantanamera.
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LocationUnitarian Universalist Church of Reading (View)
239 Woburn Street
Reading, MA 01867
United States
Categories
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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