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Press Release

Northfield Mount Hermon Announces Christmas Vespers Celebration

December 2, 2004

NORTHFIELD, Mass—Christmas Vespers at Northfield Mount Hermon School will be observed on Sunday, December 12, at 3:30 and 6:30 pm in the Memorial Chapel on the school’s Mount Hermon Campus. In addition to the on-campus services, students will be taking their performance to St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Boston on Thursday, December 16, at 7 pm.

“Music from the Old World to the New World” is the theme of this year’s service. Motets by the great Renaissance composers William Byrd and Thomas Tallis will be performed by the Select Women’s Ensemble and the NMH Singers. The Chamber Orchestra will perform a Handel concerto. Rounding out the English portion of the presentation will be two works for orchestra and the Concert Choir: movements from Handel's Dixit Dominus and Purcell's O Sing Unto the Lord.
Moving across the pond brings the music of William Billings, the first published composer in the New World. The music of John Jacob Niles will be performed, as well as the famous Huron carol “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime.” “Mary’s Lullaby” by George Chadwick, a 19th-century composer (whose 150th birthday is this year and who was the head of the New England Conservatory) will also be heard.
Leading the groups are Sheila L. Heffernon and Steven Bathory-Peeler. Marianne Lockwood and Ludmila Krasin will provide accompaniment on the piano, and Karen Guthrie is the organist.
The performances are open to the public. For more information, call 413-498-3281.

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