St. Irenaeus Music Ministry celebrated the Christmas season with performances by all four of the church’s choirs at their annual Noel Night Concert on Friday, December 6, 2019, at St. Irenaeus Church in Cypress.  The Parish Choir, the Youth Choir, the Spanish Choir, and the Teen Ensemble all performed at the concert. There was a special performance by the quartet, the Charles Dickens Carolers, and the audience participated in singing carols between the choral performances. The concert was so impressive that some parishioners said that this was the best Noel Night concert at St. Irenaeus Church that they ever attended with professional performances by the soloists and instrumentalists.

Since the Noel Night concert featured Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria in excelsis with solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, Dr. Kevin St. Clair, Director of Music at St. Irenaeus, gave some background information about Antonio Vivaldi and his music prior to the start of the concert.   Dr. St. Clair has been preparing the Parish Choir for months to perform Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, and the choir responded to his direction with an outstanding performance.  The choir performed the 12 movements of Vivaldi’s Gloria, supported by the spectacular playing of the instrumentalists. The instrumentalists were Lucy Lu and David Chavez on violin, Chad Jackson on viola, Minna Im on cello, Hunter Hawkins on bass, Theresa Bickler on trumpet, Neda St. Clair on organ.   The powerful vocal performances by the two soloists, soprano Belinda Gonzalez and mezzo-soprano Kimberly Switzer, showed why this piece is one the most popular Baroque works for chorus and orchestra.

Dr. St. Clair also directs the Youth Choir with Belinda Gonzalez as Assistant Director, and Neda St. Clair as piano accompanist.  The Youth Choir performed three songs, “Come, Sing Your Thanks to the Lord, “All Night, All Day,” and “Songs of Christmas Joy.” One of the songs was accompanied by the flute playing of Kimberly Switzer. The audience included many parents, relatives and friends of the sixteen boys and girls in the choir, who came and applauded their singing.

The Charles Dickens Carolers came dressed in hats, coats, and dresses, like people who lived in England when Charles Dickens lived in the 1800’s.  The carolers sang five songs in four-part harmony with soprano Amanda Keenan, alto Kimberly Switzer, tenor Joe Michels, and bass Ricky McKillips. The holiday songs they sang were traditional songs including “Here We Come A-Wassailing,” “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” “Fum, Fum, Fum,” “Silent Night,” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”  They added to the festive feeling of the holiday season.

The Spanish Choir was directed by Ali Landeros, who sang and accompanied the choir on piano. Alli and Ignacio Landeros also were arrangers for the Spanish Choir. The ten members of the Spanish Choir sang two songs, “El Nino Del Tambor” (The Little Drummer Boy), and “Campana Sobre Campana.”    The Spanish Choir sang their songs with such enthusiasm that the audience joined in by clapping their hands to the rhythm of their music.

The Teen Ensemble was directed by Kimberly Switzer and accompanied by Ramesh Joseph on guitar, John Hendricks on bass, Anna Korody, on piano, and Jake Rodrizuez on drums. Vocalists for the ensemble included Kimberly Switzer, Kalena Dawson, Angel Duran, Kaylene Fabros, and Kirsten Fabros. The teens sang three new songs, “Emmanuel,” (Hallowed Manger Ground), “Follow the Light,” and “Leaving Heaven.”  The Teen Choir introduced the audience to new inspirational music for Christmas with these songs.

Prior to the singing of the finale of the “Hallelujah Chorus” by G.F. Handel, the Parish Choir’s section leade,r Christine Welsch, thanked Dr. Sinclair and his wife, Neda, for all the hours of work they both spent preparing the choir for this concert and for preparing music for the church every week.  On behalf of the Parish Choir, bouquets of flowers were presented to Dr. Kevin and Neda by Angelina and Juliana Daubert, daughters of choir member Helen Kuo Daubert.

The concert ended with the Parish Choir singing of the “Hallelujah Chorus” and receiving a standing ovation from the audience.

Courtesy photo

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts and American Ballet Theatre have once again brought a wonderful gift to art aficionados. The former has brought in the latter, arguably the most highly-regarded ballet company in the United States, once again for a “Nutcracker” residency leading right up to Christmas.

The New York City-based company that household name Misty Copeland calls home, has been in partnership with the Segerstrom Center since 2015. That year, the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School at Segerstrom Center for the Arts opened. It is a selective and rigorous ballet school for children. Former American Ballet Theatre (ABT) dancers and staff teach at the school, and it follows ABT’s training curriculum.

Segerstrom’s relationship with ABT paves the way for them to bring the world-renowned company in for performances multiple times a year, including The Nutcracker each Christmas.

This year there will be performances through the 22nd.

On opening night, Dec.13, the house was packed, and it was a lovely rendition of the Christmas classic.

There were loads of children in the audience getting their first exposure to the tradition.

On the surface, it was very nice and checked all the requisite boxes—all the usual songs and dances, and elaborate costumes and backdrops. The music was played wonderfully by Pacific Symphony, with help from a children’s choir on the snow scene that ends Act I.

The Nutcracker was once a novel and high-culture ballet when it first came out in the late 19th century, and then was establishing itself across the great ballet houses of Europe and across the Atlantic in New York City in the first three-quarters of the 20th.

But over the last 50 years, what it has gained nationwide in quantity, it seems to be losing in quality. It has become a bit watered down as most every ballet company in every city across the country does a Nutcracker this time of year.

To prestigious professional companies that spend the rest of the year doing either new, obscure, cutting-edge ballets or high-culture renditions on ancient ones, I can see taking time away to do The Nutcracker year after year becoming rote and a bit of a hassle.

It’s become a little watered down and like a routine obligation that must be endured year after year. The privilege of being in a Nutcracker, or the excitement of doing a production of it, seems to have gone away. And there are so many different iterations of it these days that deviate from the original.

Reflecting on the show, this is the overall take that rises to the surface.

Hee Seo and Cory Stearns were Clara and the Nutcracker Prince that night, and he was lovely, and she mostly was, but a little lethargic.

One other perk of having the ABT Gillespie School at the Segerstrom Center is that children in the school get to perform alongside the ABT pros in The Nutcracker. They were wonderful additions, and in places even looked as good as the pros.

The big, lovely Christmas tree in the family home at the ballet’s beginning was a sight to behold, but in other parts the sets were surprisingly simple, with lackluster effort shown that mirrored some of the professionals’ dancing.

But there were certainly good parts. The snow scene was the loveliest of all, with the beautiful music and a stage full of white-clad snowflake ballerinas. The Land of the Sugarplum Fairy in the second act was an entertaining spectacle as well, with the dancers from around the world dancing before the Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara and the Nutcracker. In the famous pas de deux followed by the two solos by Clara and the Nutcracker, Stearns danced very well, and he and Seo have nice chemistry in their partnering and acting.

There will be a different cast in each show going forward. Highlights include Misty Copeland dancing the lead tonight (December 18, at 7 p.m.) and again on the 21st at 7 p.m., and Principal Isabella Boylston—not as much of a household name but a very big deal in the ballet community—on the 20th and then in the final show, Sunday, the 22nd at 5:30 p.m.

Taken at first blush, ABT’s Nutcracker was lovely, most everything you’d want in a Nutcracker, and really a lovely Christmasy spectacle. This company and others just ought to reevaluate whether they want to continue doing a Nutcracker every year, and if so, they need to come at it with renewed vigor and commitment to do it very well, challenging themselves to a standard of excellence.

But how many people can say they get to see one of the nation’s—maybe even one of the world’s—best ballet companies perform The Nutcracker, especially one imported from the opposite end of the country? It is a gift indeed, and I still say it’s worth your time.

See scfta.org for ticket information and fu

The annual Seal Beach Christmas Parade, featuring numerous organizations from Los Alamitos, rolled through Main Street Friday night as thousands of residents gathered to usher in the official start of the 2019 holiday season. Photo courtesy of davepeetersphoto.com.