True Concord resurrects COVID playlists, Dove of Peace takes New Year's show virtual

Last spring, as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world and forced live music performances to pause, True Concord Voices & Orchestra’s founder and Music Director Eric Holtan launched a weekly choral playlist to fill the gap.

But it wasn’t just his goal to fill our ears with the lovely sounds of his choir and some of the best choirs in the country; it was his chance to fill our souls with hope and a momentary escape from the isolation of COVID-19 shutdowns and stay-at-home orders.

In all, he posted 22 playlists from April 10 through Sept. 4, reaching between 600 and 1,000 listeners a week.

“My hope is that this playlist series will fill some part of that void, and remind us that we remain connected through music’s universal language, whether we may be miles, or just 6 feet, apart,” he said at the time.

When True Concord kicked off its fall “bubble series” of concerts — six concerts performed 24 times including four events before limited live audiences — Holtan put the playlists on hold. Now that the series has finished, with the final two concerts streamed earlier this month, Holtan is turning his attention back to the weekly playlists starting with “Ring in the New Year,” which will be available at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 1, on True Concord’s website (trueconcord.org).

The program includes a Bach cantata written for New Year’s Day, English composer Jonathan Dove’s “The Passing of the Year” and Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” considered by many to be the forerunner to his Ninth Symphony.

Also on the lineup: Mendelssohn’s “Am Neujahrstage (On New Year’s Day)” and Sandström’s “Sven David (1942-2019): Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied.”

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The playlists will continue as True Concord explores the possibility of holding a spring “bubble” season, in which vocalists will be isolated throughout the duration of the abridged season and several of the concerts will be held before limited live audiences.

Dove of Peace New Year’s concert goes virtual

Dove of Peace Lutheran Church, where Eric Holtan is music director, will take its annual New Year’s Day concert to the virtual world on Friday, Jan. 1. It will be the first time in more than a decade that the church has hosted the event that it will not be presented before an audience.

The program for the concert, which will be streamed through the church’s website beginning at 2 p.m., will include a pair of Mozart violin sonatas — in G major and B-flat Major — his Piano Sonata in F major and Alfred Schnittke’s “Suite in the Old Style.”

There is no cost to watch the concert, which was pre-recorded, but the church encourages donations to support Interfaith Community Services, which helps residents of Pima County who have disabilities or are in financial crisis. With the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, ICS, like many similar charities nationwide, has seen a surge in the number of people seeking its services.

Dove of Peace hosts a free classical music concert series every year featuring professional musicians from the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, University of Arizona and True Concord Voices & Orchestra and gives proceeds from donations to local nonprofit groups.

For details about Friday’s concert, visit doveofpeacetucson.org