D a n c i n gA C H O R A L S E R V I C E F O R A D V E N T

D E C E M B E R 1 3, 2 0 2 04 : 0 0 P M

f r o m t h eLike so much about the year 2020, what you see and hear this afternoon is not at all what was originallyplanned for this day. Ordinarily ensembles from Grace Church and School gather together on the second orthird Sunday in December for a concert celebrating the gift given to us in the birth of Jesus. But this year,as summer turned to fall, I realized that making music together in this way would be impossible in 2020, andI started to wonder what we could do instead as a gift to the congregation. How could we have some kindof musical event that would acknowledge our current reality and simultaneously point us to Christ, who isour hope? Whatever we decided to do needed to be safe, which unfortunately meant using very few singersand wind players, spacing people as far apart as possible, and relying on sound engineering to livestream theprogram to our audience.

As I searched for just the right piece for this day, I came upon the work you will hear this afternoon,. The text emphasizes themes of anticipation and hope and reminds us that hope is grounded

in the Word made flesh, Jesus.

I pray that the performance of this is a worshipful event for you. Please join insinging the congregational hymns that occur throughout the service.

We have taken every effort to make sure that the musicians are safe. Everyone performing has agreed to theconditions under which today’s performance are taking place. The orchestra and singers alike have rehearsedtogether with social distancing measures in place. Additionally, the singers have worn masks at all times andmost are from the same family.

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f r o m t h eSetting texts so rich in meaning is incredibly daunting. How does one capture a small, dancing light? Or asilent melody? Or a rising fountain? Long before putting notes on the page, I spent hours just wrestling withwhat each of these thoughts meant to me and my concept of how the Christmas story sounds. What ensuedis, without question, my favorite project to date; text painting abounds, conversations between instrumentsand voices are vivid, and motives introduce themselves and then come back in the final movement. It isdramatic without being artificial, relatable without being predictable.

We are curators of this incredible story. So it is my hope that is a creative, unique, andchallenging way to help [you] approach this Christmas season.

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f r o m t h eAnticipation and revelation: these two words help us understand and embrace the season of Advent. It wasmy intent to create images of anticipation and revelation in each of the texts that I wrote for this work. Ineach case, a definition emerges before the word itself is revealed. However, in each text the word can be seento be active, even before the actual moment of its revelation.

So it is with the birth of Jesus. Prophets gave us a description, a definition, and then came the revelation ofthe Word in Bethlehem; at that moment, a small, dancing light in a manger.

Sing with anticipation. Embrace the revelation.

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D a n c i n gA C H O R A L S E R V I C E F O R A D V E N T

Music byT A Y L O R S C O T T D A V I S

Text byT E R R Y W. Y O R K

1. Small, Dancing Light 2. Red Leaves Fall

3. O Little Town of Bethlehem

4. One Silent Melody

5. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

6. Someday 7. A Rising Fountain

8. Joy to the World

9. In Bethlehem

Ellie AndersonVal PoulosAnn AndersonKjerstin AndersonJustin Martin (soloist)Dan KroutDavid AndersonDouglas Anderson

Cynthia Fudala, fluteChristine Janzow Phillips, oboeBarbara Drapcho, clarinetDianne Ryan, bassooonLiz Deitemyer, hornJohanna Johnson, hornRichard Janicki, percussionJanelle Jansen Lake, harpTimothy Spelbring, piano

Betty Lewis, Becky Coffman, Rika Seko, violins 1Paul Zafer, Elizabeth Brausa, Henry Zheng, violins 2Naomi Hildner, Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, violasJean Hatmaker, Victoria Mayne, cellosDouglas Johnson, double bass

Rev. Michael D. Costello, Grace Cantor, conducting

Bill Rohlfing, recording engineerEunice Eifert, videographerJulie Hinz, sound board operator

Texts in this program copyright © 2016 Birnamwood Publications (ASCAP)A division of MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc., St. Louis, MOAll rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. Used by permission.

by Taylor Scott Davis livestreamed by permission per agreement with thepublisher. Copyright © 2016 Birnamwood Publications (ASCAP)A division of MorningStar Music Publishers. Used with permission. All rights reserved.