The Conroe Symphony Orchestra and Montgomery County Choral Society Celebrate Christmas

CONROE, TX -- Montgomery County has a wealth of talent, both in instrument and voice, and the Conroe Symphony Orchestra and the Montgomery County Choral Society, both played their parts in bringing enjoyment to their audiences in separate performances at the First Methodist Church in Conroe in December.

The Conroe Symphony Orchestra celebrated this year’s festive season concert with ‘Christmas Around the World,’ on December 14th, which is a wonderful way to envision the winter holiday, in a way seen through the eyes of folks, who aren’t necessarily from America. The CSO invited four outstanding individuals to sing and play, Sonja Bruzaukas (mezzo soprano), Annie Voorhees (soprano), Roberto Gaitan (tubist), and Steven Bogard, (baritone); each with an impressive talent that made the concert special for all in attendance. Another interesting aspect was that before each piece was introduced, either CSO President/MC Bill Thompson, or Conductor Gary Liebst, would say, or try to say ‘Merry Christmas,’ in the language of each country represented. The audience was amused with the pronunciations. For instance Gary struggled with the Russian, ‘S rozhdyestvom Hristovym;’ while Bill was troubled with the German ‘Froehliche Weihnachten.’

A number of the selections were collections of classic carols such as America’s ‘A Most Wonderful Christmas,’ an entertaining medley of ‘Winter Wonderland,’ where the use of the concert bells really set the mood. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,’ always a favorite, was most appreciated with the French Horns really making a statement. Everyone enjoyed ‘Santa Claus is Coming To Town,” with the finger snapping percussion and violin sections setting the right frame of mind; and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,’ where Dr. Sheronna McMahon’s violins made their statement at the beginning in contrast to Jennifer Kirk’s trumpets at the end. ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,’ was special as well, with each instrument seemingly having their day in the Sun, before everyone jumping into the pool. It set the tone for the whole concert with all the feel good hits throughout the decades. England’s ‘English Carol Celebrations;’ included such greats as ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,’ and ‘Here We Come A-Wassailing;’ while Germany’s ‘German Carol Festival.’ comprised of favorite carols such as ‘O Come Little Children,’ and ‘O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum).’

The CSO went next to Russia with Peter Tchaikovsky’s ‘Waltz of the Flowers,’ arranged by Merle Issac, from the Nutcracker Ballet. It has its ideas that could have been delved into, but at Christmas time we embrace its graceful melodies, its flowing rhythms, and the elegance and beauty of flowering ballerinas dancing in nature. The harp solo, by Hannah Rother, was a great intro to the piece, giving way to the waltz with its different takes on instrumentation as well as the variations of the theme. The audience appreciated Gary Liebst’s passion in conducting this piece, and seemingly were begging for more Tchaikovsky in the future.

One player that the audience thought was very intriguing and amusing at times, was tubist and Sam Houston university student Roberto Gaitan, who played a rare piece that features the tuba, ‘Wassail, Wassail, All Over the Tuba,’ arranged by James M. Stephenson, and is a variation on the traditional carol, almost slow polka like from the orchestra’s playing point of view, but the theme is maintained throughout the piece. During Gaitan’s features, his command of the tuba shows that it should not necessarily be neglected as a centerpiece instrument. During a dip in the music, it almost sounded like something you might hear in a James Bond film. Gaitan’s range was very impressive, and being a finalist for this year’s ‘Young Texas Artists’ gold medal, he is a force to be reckoned with. Ah, and the little amusing moments, the ones that had the audience momentarily chuckling at times, those were the lowest pedal tones Gaitain played, which for the lack of better word, sounded like flatulence. You know breaking wind … farts. And industrial nature ones at that. Of course, it was all designed by Stephenson, to garner some laughter for any children, young and old, that may be in the audience. Hey, it’s Christmas. Why not?

The singing talent for the Christmas concert was exceptional: Sonja Bruzaukas, the Americanized German born mezzo soprano, along with her neighbor Annie Voorhees, a 15 year-old high school sophomore soprano. Sonja sang 'Gesù Bambino,’ an Italian Christmas carol by 1907 American immigrant Pietro Yon who settled in NYC and apparently was influenced by Irish New Yorkers. It was arranged by Fedor Vrtnacnik, with Annie and the CSO in lovely accompaniment. Interestly, the melody stems from the Irish Christmas carol ‘I Saw Three Ships,’ while the lyrics of the chorus come from ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’ Sonja’s voice was so pure and forceful, that some may have thought it was Enya singing in Gaelic, but it was English. Bruzaukas and Voorhies again paired for ‘Silent Night,’ which is Austrian in origin. The carol was performed with the first verse only, but done in four different languages: German, French, Japanese, and English. Anyone stationed in Germany for years, or having a working knowledge of German would have heard ‘Stille Nacht’ and their hearts would have instantly melted. Simply devine. The CSO began their performance with the beginning of the second verse. Sonja was solo for the French and Japanese verses, but it was wonderfully sung and was a truly memorable moment. Bruzaukas again went solo with Sweden’s entry to the concert, ‘Koppangen,’ of which she sang the English version of the song, and some say is the Swedish version of Silent Night. Sonja was completely at ease in her performance, and the audience appreciated the effort, along with the orchestra’s music.

Sonja, along with baritone Steven Bogard, joined the CSO for Hawaii’s entry ‘Mele Kalikimaka,’ by R. Alex Anderson, and arranged by Stepehenson. It was a great partnership between the orchestra and the vocalists. Annie joined Sonja and Steven on stage for the ‘Christmas Carol Sing-Along,’ a set of snippets from eight Christmas carols, from ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ to ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.’

The Montgomery County Choral Society also played at the Methodist Church on December 6th, just a week prior to the CSO. The choir teamed with the The Woodlands Jazz Knights band for a wonderful evening of Christmas themed music. It was the second concert for new Artistic Director Jim Kritikos. The concert ‘The Sacred Music of Sir John Rutter: Gloria!,’ was a bold choice, and Sir John’s creation was the pièce de résistance to close out the concert.

Of course when you think of ‘Gloria,’ you have to think of Antonio Vivaldi’s version, and some may think of Laura Branigan. lol. Both Vivaldi and Rutter are geniuses, Branigan too in her own way, and she was taken from us much too soon. But V and R, took Latin’s ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo‘ or ‘Glory to God in the highest’ hymn to new heights in their times, some nearly 260 years apart. They may differ in their length (Val’s 12 vs. Rut’s 3 movements), composition, and instrumentation, but they both serve the same purpose, the Praise and Glory to God. Vivaldi’s baroque Gloria sets on the traditional Latin Mass versions. It's cantata-like, with vocals accompanied by instruments, consisting of several movements, often involving a choir.

Rutter’s Gloria, was probably influenced by Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Mass,’ from 1971, which has a movement called ‘Gloria,’ and John had probably been working on his own version long before he was commissioned and performed it in 1974. Rutter ups Vivaldi’s instrumentation with more trumpets, two tenor trombones, a bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, an organ; essentially stuff mostly unavailable to Vivaldi in his day like the glock, xylophone, and tambour. Rutter slashed his Gloria in movements, structured to a fast-slow-fast tempo, which most concertos follow.

The MCCS and The Woodlands Jazz Knights performance of Gloria was magnificent. Kritikos, trained in conducting bands and choirs, was in his element and was equal to the task. It was a splendid display of two different elements coming together to create a wonderful product of sound that was pleasing to ear, and a privilege to have seen in person.

And it begs the question, what are the chances of the Conroe Symphony Orchestra and the Montgomery County Choral Society combining forces for a special performance in the future?

The CSOs next concert is ‘Great Expectations,’ to be performed on February 8th. Their website is: conroesymphony.org

The MCCS’s next concert is ‘Ties That Bind,’ to be performed on February 28th. Their website is: mcchoral.org

Please consider donating to these wonderful organizations.

Ruben can be reached at: ruben@montgomerycountynews.net