Local music groups gather to celebrate the holidays
Act 1: Greater Lansing voices sing out holiday favorites
Two choirs will host winter holiday concerts at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Delta Community Choir is performing “Sleep in Heavenly Peace,” its annual winter concert. It’ll sing at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 7910 E. St. Joseph Highway in Delta Township.
The free concert will accept donations for the Lansing Chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a non-profit that builds beds for children who do not have them. They’ll also be collecting donations of twin-size sheets, pillowcases, pillows, blankets and comforters.
Choir Director Ellen McKenzie points out that in the Greater Lansing area, there are nearly 6,000 children who do not have their own beds. The concert is intended to raise awareness of the group while providing an afternoon of beautiful music.
“During a season when we celebrate the birth of a child who was laid in a manger because he had no bed, it seems fitting for Delta Community Choir to highlight the important work being done by Sleep in Heavenly Peace,” McKenzie said.
The concert will include seasonal music, including carols, folk songs, and songs from TV, movies and Broadway. The concert will include special guest instrumentalists.
The choir celebrated its 10th anniversary this year and was honored as the 2022 Delta Township Community Organization of the Year for its musical and charitable contributions to Delta Township.
The Lange Choral Ensemble’s concert will take place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 218 West Ottawa St., Lansing. Their “Heaven and Earth are Full of Your Music” concert includes both Advent and Christmas music. Some of the composers whose work will be sung include Howells, Gabrieli, Lauridsen, arnesen, Susa, Ola Gjeilo, Hopkins, Esenvalds and Kressler.
The choir is accompanied by Stephanie Gewirtz, piano; Gretchen Morse, oboe and a brass quartet led by Jeff Kressler, a retired band director at DeWitt Public Schools.
One of the concert highlights will be a presentation of “Stars” by Eriks Esenvalds. It features the poetry of Sara Teasdale and choir members will accompany it by playing six finely tuned glasses of water.
Featured soloists are Abigail English, Jessica Himstedt, Kate Powe, Deborah McMartin-Finkel, Victoria Walker, Melanie Walter, Ian Broughton, L. Harrison Brown and Jeff Massey.
Tickets are $10 general admission and $8 for seniors and students.
Act II: Competition to recognize musical theater artists with Michigan ties
The Lansing Matinee Musicale is sponsoring its first-ever musical theater award for young artists between the ages of 20-28 with ties to Michigan.
The competition is designed to jump-start the careers of Michigan’s emerging musical theatre artists as they begin their professional careers.
The deadline for applying is Jan. 15, 2023, and the prize money is $2,000 for first place, $1,500 for second and $500 for the third-place winner.
Those applying do not need to currently live in Michigan. The contest is open to current or past Michigan resident — including those who were born, raised or went to school in Michigan.
“We have not run a competition for musical theater before,” said Laura Stebbins, the Lansing Matinee Musicale’s Competition Coordinator. “It’s always been classical voice, piano, strings, woodwinds, dance and brass. As a lifelong musical theater performer, teacher and member of LMM, this competition is a dream come true.”
There are three rounds of the contest. The first round includes virtual video auditions with three contrasting musical theater selections. The second round is also virtual and entails four additional selections. The final round will take place before a live Lansing audience on April 15, 2023.
The award was conceived by Stebbins and Patrice Van Voorhees, the founder of The Studio Performing Arts Center in East Lansing. Both are second generation members of Lansing Matinee Musicale, an organization that will celebrate its 129th anniversary in 2023.
“It is extremely difficult and expensive for a young artist to keep up their skill levels in all three fields (acting, dancing, singing) in big cities like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles and we would like to help facilitate that,” Van Voorhees said.
More information on eligibility, repertoire requirements and the application can be found at lansingmatineemusicale.org.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Local music groups gather to celebrate the holidays
