The Foothills Philharmonic Society is holding its annual festive concert.
For their 10th anniversary, the Foothills Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus will be performing selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, among other festive favourites, at the High River United Church on Dec. 15 and Okotoks Alliance Church on Dec. 16.
“It’s going to be really really fabulous,” said FPS director Tim Korthuis. “The oratorio is storytelling through singing and orchestra, so it’s got lots of choral pieces and solos.
“The whole work is about three hours long, but we cut it down to around an hour, but we still have lots of great pieces in it.
“And one of the reasons we’re doing this cool work is it’s the 10th year for the Foothills Philharmonic Society, so that’s a big thing; it’s part of that celebration, having lots of fun, making great music.”
With the oratorio, a soloist will perform recitatives, a sort of call-and-response singing a lead-in for the choir to tell the story – in this case the story of Christmas.
While many a layperson may not be immediately familiar with the works by name, Korthuis said many will recognize them as seasonal favourites used in various media.
“Even with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, people will be like, ‘I don’t know what that is,’ and then they’ll hear something and say, ‘Oh, I remember that,’” Korthuis said.
“Yeah, it’s in commercials, it’s in movies, you know, that’s what you find about so much classical music; it's all these famous pieces.”
And for his next trick, Korthuis will be joining the Philharmonic’s piano accompanist, Amberly Steed, for a piano four hands performance, where the two play the same piano alongside the chorus.
As the choir and orchestra are now back at healthy numbers following a dip during the pandemic, the group is once again performing as a well-oiled machine.
“Lots of new members joined the orchestra this season, lots of new members in the choir,” said Korthuis, who thrives on seeing members grow and succeed as musicians.
“I really, really enjoy seeing people accomplish things they didn’t think they were capable of.
“And at the end of the day, we have a group of people who love being with each other and love making music together.”
For tickets and information, visit foothillsphilharmonic.com/concerts.
