Christmas Joy

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Product Overview

• Format: Audio CD, Remixes included, Import, Oct. 18 2008
• Release Title: Christmas Joy
• Artist: Bella Voce Women's Chorus of Vermont

Christmas Joy: notes from the Director The celebration of Christmas has
inspired a vast array of beloved musical traditions throughout the ages!
Christmas Joy features pieces that range from classic selections for women's
voices like Brahms' Ave Maria and Britten's This Little Babe to arrangements
of carols and spirituals that old a revered place in the rich tapestry of
Christmas choral music. Carols lie at the very heart and soul of traditional
Christmas music. They are often associated with a particular place such as The
Sussex Carol from England and the Wexford Carol from Ireland. While Europe is
the place of origin for many traditional carols like the French carol Masters
in this Hall, the New World has also produced many beautiful carols and
folksongs that were originally handed down through an oral tradition such as A
La Nanita Nana from Cuba and carols from Appalachia like Jesus, Jesus Rest
Your Head and I Wonder as I Wander. And The Moon of Wintertime, an arrangement
of the Canadian Christmas hymn The Huron Carol, tells the story of the
nativity using imagery of Native American cultures. Spirituals add a
distinctive flavor and energy to the telling of the Christmas story. In 2007
Bella Voce commissioned Robert DeCormier to arrange a set of Christmas
spirituals for women's voices and instruments. Mary Had a Baby - A Suite of
Christmas Spirituals draws from the African-American and Afro-Caribbean
traditions. Spirituals often feature "call and response" singing where a
soloist sings a phrase - the call - and the choir either repeats the phrase
back to the soloist or answers it with a response. Using this method, these
spirituals tell the story of Christ's humble birth and of his glorious role as
the "wonderful counselor." Bella Voce Women's Chorus hopes that these songs
are a gift of Christmas Joy to you! -Dawn Willis Founder and Music Director
Bella Voce Women's Chorus of Vermont Bella Voce Women's Chorus of Vermont was
founded in March of 2004 by Dr. Dawn Willis and performed their first full
concert in May of that same year. The chorus of 45 auditioned singers performs
existing and newly commissioned sacred and secular works for women's voices,
often in combination with instrumentalists. The chorus includes singers from
four counties in northern Vermont, many of whom also sing in a variety of
school, church, and community choruses across the region. Bella Voce has
presented concerts and festivals throughout New England and recently performed
in several locations in Ireland. Dr. Dawn O. Willis, Music Director Dawn
Willis, Music Director and Founder of Bella Voce Women's Chorus, also serves
as the Assistant Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus. She holds
a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Music from Arizona State University
and Masters degrees in Sacred Music and Choral Conducting from Southern
Methodist University. In 1999, Dr. Willis conducted the New England Symphonic
Ensemble and the McMurry University Choirs in a performance of Mozart's Solemn
Vespers at Carnegie Hall. She has also served as a guest conductor for the
Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra and prepared choruses for regional
orchestras in Iowa and Texas. Dr. Willis has served as the Director of Choral
Activities at McMurry University and Iowa Wesleyan College, and has conducted
the University of Vermont Catamount Singers and Arizona State University
Women's Chorus. She has conducted numerous festivals, clinics, and workshops
throughout Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Iowa, South Dakota, and Vermont. In
addition, she has served as the choral director for churches in several
denominations and directed numerous collegiate and community musicals, operas,
and madrigal dinners. Dawn also composes and arranges sacred and secular
choral music and pieces for handbell ensembles. Glory Reinstein, Assistant
Director Glory Reinstein received her B.S. in Music Education from the
University of Vermont and her Masters Degree in Music Education at Central
Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut. She presently
teaches vocal/choral music as well as other music electives at Essex High
School. Glory has conducted church choirs and been involved in community
musical theater throughout her career. She has been an adjudicator and guest
conductor throughout Vermont and Northern New York. Glory is a former
President of the Vermont Chapter of American Choral Directors' Association and
the Vermont Music Educators' Association and presently serves on both boards.
Her awards include being named the 1997-1998 Vermont Music Educator of the
Year, the 1998-1999 North Country Union High School Teacher of the Year, and
the 2007 Vermont Arts Alliance award recipient. Shirley Smith, Accompanist
Shirley Smith holds undergraduate degrees in Vocal Performance and Music
Education from the Hartt School of Music and a Masters Degree in Religious
Education degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary. Trained as a singer and
pianist, Shirley was a public school music educator in New York, Kansas, and
Vermont for twenty years. She has served as the accompanist for several
community and school choruses plus the studios of numerous private voice
teachers throughout the region. She has performed with the Vermont Symphony
Orchestra Chorus, the Vermont Music Educators' Association and American Choral
Directors' Association. Xiudan Lin, Assistant Accompanist Xiudan Lin moved to
the United States in 2002 from southeastern China. She is currently a music
major at The University of Vermont. Xiudan recently won first place in both
the Vermont Philharmonic Jon Borowicz Memorial Student Music Scholarship
Competition and the Vermont All-State Music Festival Scholarship Competition
in the piano category. Chelsie Henderson, Conducting Intern Chelsie Henderson
is in her second year as the high school choral director and middle school
music teacher at the Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax, Vermont. Chelsie
graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in Music Education in
May of 2007. She currently serves as the Choral Chair of the Vermont Music
Educators' Association. Chelsie has been a member of Bella Voce's oung
Conductors' Mentoring Program since it's inception in 2005.