“So Many Angels” a Musical Christmas Gift To Winnipeg

I was thrilled when Valdine Anderson, director of Esprit de Choeur, asked me to record their Christmas concert this December. As all choirs are these days, Esprit was excited to be presenting a performance in front of a live audience again, albeit a reduced one. Covid restrictions still applied, so proof of vaccinations were needed to attend, with a reduced capacity and spacing between audience members at Crescent Fort Rouge Church.

I attended a rehearsal the evening before to listen to the group and the musicians who would be accompanying them. The program was interesting and varied, with accompaniment provided by marimba and percussion, flute, a string trio, and piano, all adding their own textures to the pieces they were involved in. Having heard the program, I then knew what I would need to bring in order to have it all balance in the recording the next day.

After setting up and a quick run-through of the program, the audience distributed themselves around the church and the concert was on.

The audience was limited in numbers only. They were as excited to see and hear a live performance as the choir was to provide one. Here’s a sample of the evening’s concert from Vivaldi’s “Gloria”: