Music for the Holidays at the Riverview Arts Centre offers a taste of Christmas just in time for the holiday season

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by Stacey Merrigan
This Week Staff

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When November draws to a close, and people are starting to feel the call of egg nog and Christmas lights, the Riverview Arts Centre will offer a wonderful program of Christmas music, featuring the Hillsborough Alumnae Choir, as well as some musical guests.

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The Hillsborough Alumnae Choir will host a Christmas concert, with accompaniment by Dorothy Brzezicki (harp), Sally Wright (flute) and Mark Lloyd (piano), as well as special guests Baroque’n’Winds, at the Riverview Arts Centre this weekend.

Directed by Dr. Ruth Schiller, C.M., the choir has been performing in its current form for about three years, but as she explains, the members have been singing for much longer than that.

"The Hillsborough Alumnae Choir is really made up of girls that used to sing in the Hillsborough Girls Choir," she explains. :Now they're older and they've decided that they really want to sing, so we started this choir."

The experience that the group of ten or so women have is evident in their professionalism, and by the fact that they've already made some impressive appearances.

Those appearance include Festival 500 in St. John's, Newfoundland, and the recent Podium 2008 festival in Sackville, for which they were hand-selected by the Association of Canadian Choir Conductors, on of only a few local groups asked to do so.

The group has traditionally done a free concert at Christmas time in local church halls, but the acoustics and seating capacity of the RAC will allow them to share their music with even more people this season.

"This year I decided that for Christmas we'd do a theme of what is Christmas all about, but also the fun part, too," Ruth says. "We've always stuck to the classical music before, and I thought this would be nice. We're calling it "A Candle Light Christmas".

The theme of the evening comes from one of the group's favourite carols, "Candle Light Carol" by John Rutter. The composer will be well represented at the concert, followed by some well-loved favourites like "White Christmas" at the end of the evening.

Ruth is also happy to share the evening with several accompanists, including Dorothy Brzezicki on harp, Sally Wright on flute, and Mark Lloyd on piano. These three well-known and talented musicians are sure to add depth to the voices within the choir.

Even more special to Ruth is the inclusion of one of her favourite groups, Baroque'n'Winds, a recorder trio from Alma that has become a favourite for her at this time of year.

"They're an alto, tenor and bass wooden recorder trio," she explains. "They're quite wonderful. I don't think many people have heard of them, but they're the real sound of Christmas.

"They are my true love at Christmas. I love the recorder sound. I feel that Christmas is just not complete without them."

All in all, the evening should be an excellent one for lovers of holiday music, but also a great opportunity for those unfamiliar with the sound of a live choir to feel its magic.

"The choir has a true sound," Ruth boasts. "You can put on a CD and listen to music, but this is so much truer. It's a small group, and the girls come from all different aspects of life. Some are teachers, some are at home with their kids.

"It's a truer sound in their voices. You can tell that they're singing for the love of singing."

Music for the Holidays will be offered as a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Nov. 30 at the Riverview Arts Centre.

Tickets are $12.50 in advance, and $15 at the door, and are available online at www.RiverviewArtsCentre.ca, as well as the Riverview Sobeys and Jean Coutu locations, and Ford's Apothecary in Moncton.