COURTESY PHOTO
Javier Marquez, left, a composer from Lynn, and Bill Sano, music director of the Concert Singers of Greater Lynn, are excited about the upcoming holiday shows.
The Concert Singers of Greater Lynn will hold their 38th annual holiday concerts Dec. 2 and Dec. 4. Featured works include Boston composer Daniel Pinkham’s “Christmas Cantata” and Lynn composer Javier Marquez’s “Gloria in Excelsis.” Also included are Hanukkah songs, Christmas music from the Renaissance through the 21st century and a community carol sing. The program will also include the Occasional Brass quintet from Boston.
The first performance is at 8 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, 101 Forest Ave., Swampscott. This concert will be performed again at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, 571 Boston St., Lynn.
Both concerts are free and both venues are handicap-accessible. A free-will offering is accepted.
William C. Sano of Salem has been music director of the Concert Singers for 30 years. Sano is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, instructor for the popular “Season at Symphony” class in Swampscott, teaches for the Salem State Explorers LLI and is former music supervisor in Marblehead Public Schools. He is also an organist, pianist, tuba player and directs a large church choir in Weston.
Accompanist is Margaret J. Dee, a charter member of the Concert Singers, former music teacher in Danvers Public Schools, and currently organist of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Lynnfield.
The 50-plus chorus members hail from 17 cities and towns north of Boston, as well as two members from Pembroke and Plymouth.
Occasional Brass was started in June 2001 by two University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni and former members of popular funk band Rippopotamus. The quintet consists of two trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba. The ensemble will play five very different arrangements of popular Christmas tunes for the performance.
These concerts are funded in part by LynnArts Inc., the Swampscott Arts Council and the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation. Donations at the door will help keep the Concert Singers performing for another 38 years and more!