Holiday Concert at the Museum

I attended a Holiday Concert this weekend at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. I was actually supposed to go to our Family Movie Night that day, but it had been cancelled – in part because of this concert: my sister Noel was part of the event as she is a member of Cantora Arctica, the woman’s choir conducted by Janet Stotts.

The concert was really good. The museum is a very classy place, of course. The foyer is a very large two-story space, with the sweeping staircase and the water feature with glass blocks at the base. The acoustics were perfect for the music, and the holiday decorations added just the right final touch.

And may I say: the Christmas tree was beautiful!

It was probably 12 feet tall and about 8 feet in diameter at the base. I didn’t get close enough to see if it was real or not, but with the quality of fake trees these days, there’s really no reason to waste a perfectly good tree just for decoration purposes.

It was the garland that was really cool. Somebody had made hundreds of dolls, each one about 18 inches tall, and all dressed in traditional clothing from all over the world. The dolls all held hands, creating the garland, and wrapped the tree from head to foot.

I had my camera with me, and took lots of pictures, so if anybody wants to see the tree, or – more importantly – my sister, just ask!

Speaking of my sister: let’s get back to the subject of the concert (the whole reason for this entry in the first place!).

The program opened with a group called the Suzuki Students of Karyn Grove. I am not familiar with them, so am assuming that Karyn Grove is the name of a school – but it could have been the name of their leader. Either way, the group consisted of about 12 kids, ranging in age from 9 to 16, all of whom played violins.

They were amazing. They stood up there, in matching outfits, and played 26 pieces of holiday music = all without any music books in front of them! They did the entire show from memory.

Now, I can totally understand singing that many songs from memory. I do it every day, and have been doing so since almost before I could talk. But playing the violin! At the age of 9!!!

Truly impressive.

Cantora Arctica filed on stage next along with the Alaska Children’s Choir (also conducted by Janet Stotts). There were probably somewhere around 50-80 voices by the time they all got to their positions. There were kids lined 4-5 deep all the way up the stairs, with the youngest voices down on floor level in front of the adults.

The songs they sang were specifically chosen to showcase all the different age groups present, so that each group got to highlight their talents and be in the spotlight. There were several duets, some solos, and even a couple where everybody sang together.

Again, the acoustics in the museum are really quite beautiful, and the human voice can do some really amazing things when properly trained.

I was impressed, to say the least.

If you’re interested, Cantora Arctica is performing at another concert this coming Sunday, December 14, at the St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. Tickets are $15.00 for adults and $10.00 for children & seniors.

I highly recommend you going to hear them. You won’t be disappointed!