An Evening of Lessons and Carols - "Winter Scenes": NEC Choruses, Back Bay Ringers, with organ, brass and percussion

PRELUDE

Sergei Prokofiev (arr. Kevin McChesney)
    Sleigh Ride (Troika) from Lt. Kijé Suite
            Back Bay Ringers
            Griff Gall, conductor

George Frideric Handel (arr. Henry Kihlken)
    Give Thanks and Praise
            NEC Children's Chorus
            Thomas Handel, organ
            Laura Nevitt, conductor

Thatcher Harrison
    Broke a Nail Blues          
            Thatcher Harrison '23, guitar

Michael Praetorius
James Woodman
Johannes Brahms
    Three Settings ofEs ist ein Ros' entsprungen
            Thomas Handel, organ
           
Hugo Martin/Ralph Blaine
      Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
            Thatcher Harrison '23, guitar

Traditional (arr. Sandra Eithun)
    The Holly and the Ivy
            Back Bay Ringers
            Griff Gall, conductor

Nicholas Myers
    The Winter's Night
            NEC Youth Chorale
            Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Traditional (arr. David Willcocks) | O come, all ye faithful

NEC Choruses
Audience
Brass and Percussion
Thomas Handel, organ

First Lesson

Genesis 3: 1-15 (read in English)
Reader: Maggie Storm (NEC ’24 MM)
God tells sinful Adam that he has lost the life of Paradise and that his seed will bruise the serpent’s heel.

Reena Esmail | We Look for You (Evensong) from A Winter Breviary

NEC Chamber Singers
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Program note

This set of three carols, on new texts by poet Rebecca Gayle Howell, traces a journey through the solstice, the longest night of the year. The texts follow the canonical hours of Evensong, Matins and Lauds, and the music maps onto Hindustani raags for those same hours (Raag Hamsadhwani, Malkauns, and Ahir Bhairav). This set is a meeting of cultures, and of the many ways we honor the darkness, and celebrate the return of light.
- Reena Esmail

Anthony Maglione | Sleep, Sleep, Beauty Bright from Winter Scenes (2023)

World Premiere

Hannah Miller '25, soprano
NEC Symphonic Choir
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Third Lesson

Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7 (read in Tamil)
Reader: Anjulie Djearam (NEC ’27)
The peace that Christ will bring is foreshadowed.

Anthony J. Maglione | Bells from Winter Scenes (2023)

World Premiere

NEC Symphonic Choir
Back Bay Ringers
Brass and Percussion
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Fourth Lesson

Isaiah 11: 1-4, 6-10 (read in Spanish)
Reader: Nicholas Ottersberg Enriquez (NEC ’24)
Christ’s birth and kingdom are foretold by Isaiah.

Anthony J. Maglione | A Winter Night from Winter Scenes

World Premiere

Molly Knight '25, soprano
Nancy Schoen '28 (Tufts/NEC), alto
NEC Symphonic Choir
Back Bay Ringers
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Program note

Winter Scenes (2023) is a series of musical vignettes that capture the disparate emotions that many of us encounter when the year draws to a close. As the Holidays are a difficult time for many people, I tried to capture these experiences through a variety of poetry and textures. I hope to keep adding to these evocative, yet accessible settings year after year to create a collection from which people can pick and choose works based on specific concert needs.
           “Sleep, Sleep, Beauty Bright” for a cappella choir is a setting of William Blake’s poem, “Cradle Song” which was part of his 1798 collection, Songs of Innocence. I chose this lullaby because  it depicts the simplicity of childhood and the warm memories I have of youthful innocence. I imagine a parent singing to a child by firelight as the quiet of night falls all around. “A Winter Night” for handbells, hand chimes, and choir is a setting of Sara Teasdale’s poem by the same name. This work is meant to capture the beauty of solitude. The melancholy accompaniment by the hand chimes and handbells in conjunction with the long sustained lines of the choir are meant to evoke a sense of drifting into thought while looking out the window on a cold winter evening. “Bells” is a setting of the first stanza of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Bells” which depicts a joyful sleigh ride through the winter air. I love this stanza as it shows brilliance and joy from a writer most well known for his dark Gothic themes. So, I chose to set it to sound to depict a joyful sleigh ride through a busy street while people whisk around shopping for their holiday gifts.                               
- Anthony J. Maglione

Traditional (arr. David Willcocks) | The First Nowell

NEC Choruses
Audience
Brass and Percussion
Thomas Handel, organ
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Fifth Lesson

Luke 1: 26-35, 37-38 (read in Igbo)
Reader: Valentine Umeh (NEC ’27)
The angel Gabriel salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Daniel Kantor | Night of Silence

NEC Children's Chorus
Thomas Handel, organ
Laura Nevitt, conductor

Charles V. Stanford | The Blue Bird, op. 119 no. 3

soloists:  Clara Van de Velde, Abigail Bilodeau, Ashley Chen
                       
NEC Youth Chorale and NEC Children’s Chorus
Calvin Isaac Wamser ’24 MM, conductor

Sixth Lesson

Luke 2: 1, 3-7 (read in Cantonese)
Reader: Lena Wong (NEC ’25 MM)
St. Luke tells of the birth of Jesus.

Traditional English (arr. Cathy Moklebust) | O Little Town of Bethlehem

Back Bay Ringers
Griff Gall, conductor

Traditional (arr. David Willcocks) | Hark! The herald angels sing

NEC choruses
Audience
Brass and Percussion
Thomas Handel, organ
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Seventh Lesson

Luke 2: 8-16 (read in English)
Reader: Henri Youmans
The shepherds go to the manger.

Reena Esmail | The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds) from A Winter Breviary

NEC Chamber Singers
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Johann Sebastian Bach | Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645

Nan Ni '26 DMA, organ

Eighth Lesson

Matthew 2: 1-12 (read in French)
Reader: Coco Chapman ‘26
The Wise Men are led by the star to Jesus.

Pavel Chesnokov | In Winter, op. 32 no. 2

NEC Chamber Singers
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Ninth Lesson

John 1: 1–14 (read in English)
Reader: Maggie Storm, ’24 MM
St. John unfolds the great mystery of the Incarnation.

Franz Gruber (arr. Dan Foster) | Silent Night

introduction
      Thatcher Harrison '23, guitar

NEC Choruses
Audience

Lowell Mason (arr. John Rutter) | Joy to the World!

NEC Choruses
Audience
Brass and Percussion
Thomas Handel, organ
Erica J. Washburn, conductor

Postlude: Charles Widor | Toccata

Thomas Handel, organ

Performing Ensembles

Back Bay Ringers (BBR) is an advanced, auditioned community handbell ensemble based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 2003 as the nation’s first open and affirming handbell ensemble dedicated to friends and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, BBR has quickly developed a reputation for excellence with performances at the Shalin Liu Performance Center, Symphony Hall, the Boston Children’s Museum, and the Prudential Center, and has collaborated with renowned local arts organizations including The Handel and Haydn Society, The Boston Pops, Coro Allegro, and the Boston Children’s Chorus. 
        Under the leadership of artistic director Griff Gall, BBR has grown into one of the country’s most innovative handbell organizations. In its short history, BBR has founded the Boston Handbell Festival, an annual celebration bringing together the region’s best community and church handbell ensembles, with proceeds donated toward the purchase of handchimes for a selected Boston-area school. BBR has also commissioned multiple original works and arrangements, sponsored workshops with noted handbell composers, and performed throughout the Northeast. Perhaps one of the most unique collaborations for our ensemble was in 2014 when the ensemble was invited to perform part of the soundtrack for an episode of 48 Hours. In 2016, BBR was a featured performing ensemble at the Handbell Musicians of America National Seminar. BBR’s members and directors have become leaders in the national handbell community as clinicians, organizers, and administrators.
       Back Bay Ringers’ commitment to community has led to the development of our Season of Giving Back concerts during the spring season, where BBR has supported partner organizations that serve the Greater Boston area in striving for social justice issues. Previous partners have included LGBT Asylum Task Force, Boston Living Center, and Stop Handgun Violence.
       BBR has produced three recordings. BBR’s first recording, Merry and Bright: A Celebration of Carols with the Back Bay Ringers, was released in 2007, Perpetual Motion was released in the summer of 2010, and the ensemble’s latest recording, Comfort and Joy, was released in December 2013. The first two of these recordings are now available in a digital format wherever digital music is available. 

Nina Dundas
Virginia Goldenheim
Julian Hirshfield
Savannah Kaminsky
Ivy Liao
Rachel Ma
Esthera Oglice
Jai Sathiraju
Judá Soto
Jessica Tang
Adam Zhang
Sam Zhou

NEC Preparatory School Youth Chorale

Abigail Bilodeau
Ashley Chen
Hannah Goodwin
Bailee Green
Esther Jin
Lindsay Kwon
Darya Leschiner
Madeline Lytton
Claire Park
Alla Petrosyan
Adam Pinto
Mia Snorek-Yates
Elin Thomas
Natalie Tulipani
Clara Van de Velde
Calvin Isaac Wamser
Lena Wong
Nicholas Ying
Henri Youmans
Honghao Howard Zheng
 

New England Conservatory Choruses (college)

Pitiki Aliakai
Ashley Chen
Anjulie Djearam
Haijie Du
Timothy Goliger
Bailee Green
Jackie Hu
Siyu Leng
Corinne Luebke-Brown
Colin Miller
Yuanwei Ni
Nicholas Ottersberg Enriquez
Anna Poltronieri Tang
Rafe Schaberg
Rachel Solyn
Maggie Storm
Chloe Thum
Valentine Umeh
Calvin Isaac Wamser
Lena Wong
Yumeng Xing
Kerui Chris Yang
Henri Youmans
Honghao Howard Zheng

Conductors

 Conductor and mezzo-soprano Erica J. Washburn has been Director of Choral Activities at New England Conservatory since 2009.  Known for her student-centric approach to classroom and rehearsal instruction, and commitment to the performance of new music, she is the recipient of several outstanding alumni awards, including the distinguished honor of induction to the Westminster Choir College Music Education Hall of Fame.
        As a conductor, Washburn has worked with Kansas City, MO based Cardinalis, the Yale Schola Cantorum, the East Carolina University Women’s Chorale, and the Eastman Women’s Chorus. She is a sought-after guest clinician who frequently leads state and regional festival choruses, and spent five summers as a conductor and voicefaculty member for the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of ChoralStudies.
       Under her direction the NEC choirs have been featured on several live and pre-recorded broadcasts, including the North Carolina based station WCPE Great Sacred Music, WICN Public Radio, and WGBH Boston. The choirs can also be heard in collaboration with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project on the BMOP/Sound recording Paul Moravec:The Blizzard Voices and, most recently, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on their Deutsche Grammophon recording of Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 (released on October 20)
       Washburn’s stage credits include appearances as Madame Lidoine in Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Rebecca Nurse in Robert Ward’s The Crucible, Mother/Allison in the premiere of Lee Hoiby’s This is the Rill Speaking and others. Her recital and orchestral solo credits are numerous, and her live premiere from Jordan Hall of the late Richard Toensing’s Night Songs and Evening Prayers with the New England Conservatory Symphonic Winds can be heard on Albany Records. 

Laura Nevitt is a conductor, composer, and educator based in Boston. She is Founder and Artistic Director of Lilith Vocal Ensemble, Children’s Chorus Director at NEC Prep, Associate Conductor at Voices Boston Children’s Choir, a Teaching Artist with Boston Lyric Opera and Handel & Haydn Society, and Music Director at First Parish UU in Needham, MA, where she is also Artistic Director of the newly formed “To The Fore” Concert Series, focused on bringing historically marginalized voices to the forefront.
        As a composer, Laura is especially passionate about giving voice and space to gender marginalized musicians and poets through choral and vocal music. Their compositions have been performed by musicians across the country, including the Handel & Haydn Society Youth Choruses, Choral Arts Initiative, the Evelyn Duo, Voices Boston Children’s Choir, Boston Conservatory Choir, Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, Lilith Vocal Ensemble, BRACE New Music Choir, the UofSC Concert Choir, and the Choir of Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in Cambridge.

Griff Gall is the founding artistic director of the Back Bay Ringers, one of the premier handbell ensembles in New England. Under his direction, the ensemble has performed throughout the Greater Boston area and has developed a reputation for their musically sensitive performances. He has collaborated with many of the area's finest musical organizations including the Handel and Haydn Society, New England Conservatory Choral Department, the Boston Children's Chorus, and the Boston Pops. 
       Griff is an elementary music and movement specialist in the town of Danvers, Mass. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from Westminster Choir College, a Master of Music degree in Education from Boston University, and received his Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Education Leadership from Salem State University. 
       He is frequently invited as a guest clinician and conductor of workshops in handbell pedagogy, conducting, and Orff Schulwerk for local and national handbell and music education and handbell conferences, and is co-author of Ring, Dance, Play, first experiences with Choirchimes and Orff Schulwerk published by GIA. He is the recipient of the Donna Nagel Award for his contributions to the field of General Music from the Massachusetts Music Educators Association and the Spotlight Award from the American Center for Elemental Music and Movement.