Tucson choir to premiere three new works in holiday concert

True Concord Voices & Orchestra is celebrating the 20th anniversary this weekend of its annual "Lessons & Carols by Candlelight" holiday concert.

Anyone who's followed the two-time Grammy-nominated ensemble knows that True Concord likes to make a big deal of landmark anniversaries.

This year, it launched a new Christmas Carol Competition as a complement to its Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition, now in its eighth year. The ensemble will perform the winning work by Allen, Texas, composer and conductor Patrick Vu at this weekend's five "Lessons & Carols" performances. 

"It's something that I have been thinking about for some time," said True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan, who said the success of the Paulus Competition over the years convinced him the Christmas Carol Competition would attract a lot of attention. "We had over 200 submissions in the very first year. So we were thrilled about that."

Vu's arrangement of "Silent Night" is one of three new works on the program; his is considered an Arizona premiere since it has been performed in the past, while the two others are world premieres, Holtan noted.

"In this competition, the criteria was pretty straightforward: It can be an original work, as long as it was holiday-themed, or it could be an arrangement of an existing carol or tune," Holtan explained. "And so we get a lot of arrangements. We got some originals, of course, but this is a new arrangement of an old favorite."

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The other two new works come from vocalists with long ties to the ensemble: Minnesota composer Timothy Takach and Florida-born tenor Paul Rudoi.

The group will perform Takach's "North Star Carol," a short work that focuses on the North Star's role in the Christmas story, and Rudoi's "Bearer," a story about the Virgin Mary commissioned by classical guitarist Nicoló Spera and scored for choir and classical guitar. 

Holtan said Rudoi, who had sung for True Concord a number of years and now sings full-time with the vocal group Cantus, proposed that the Tucson ensemble perform the world premiere.  

"It's part of our tradition to premiere new works. We've been doing a lot of it over the years," Holtan said, but in concerts like "Lessons & Carols," "we have a lot of familiar works as well."

Those include the "Sussex Carol," "Oh Come Divine Messiah," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "What Child Is This." The program also features organist Jessica Branch's "Earth, Strike Up Your Music" and "a wonderful arrangement by Stephen Paulus of a work called 'Gabriel's Message'," Holtan added.

True Concord will perform the concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave.; 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, at St. Francis in the Valley Episcopal Church, 600 S. La Cañada Drive in Green Valley; and twice on Sunday, Dec.: 3 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 2450 E. Fort Lowell Road, and 7 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 3738 N. Old Sabino Canyon Road.

Tickets are $23.50-$68.50 through trueconcord.org.