Now really, just what do a Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and the Sugar Plum Fairy have in common?  They each relate to the Annual Christmas Concert to be presented on Sunday afternoon, December 14, by the Carolina Community Chorus.

Many church musicians will tell you that there are four Bs in classical music –Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Sower-B. Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) composed over 500 pieces in all genres except opera and ballet music.  Except for the last six years of his life, when he served as organist at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, he lived in his native Chicago. Sowerby composed much church music and is best known for his choral compositions and arrangements.  His arrangement of The Snow Lay on the Ground is on the Community Chorus’s December 14 program.  The origin of this lovely carol is shrouded in anonymity; it may have come from Italy, Ireland, or the west of England,

Also on the program is Still, Still, Still, an Austrian carol, in an arrangement by one of Leo Sowerby’s illustrious students, Norman Luboff. Mr. Luboff founded the Norman Luboff Choir, which was prominent during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. It produced more than 70 commercial recordings.

Leo Sowerby won the Pulitzer Prize in 1946 for his cantata, “Canticle of the Sun.” Norman Luboff won a Grammy Award in 1961 for “Songs of the Cowboy” as recorded by the Norman Luboff Choir.

Peter Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy” will also be on the program, albeit with completely “out-of-the-box” lyrics.

Plan now to come to this delightful program, which will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14 in the Polk County High School Auditorium, conducted by Candace Wilson.

Many of your friends and neighbors are members of both the Community Chorus and the Tryon Rotary Club. The concert is a cooperative effort of these two organizations, whose goal is to provide generous scholarships to deserving young people in Polk County, funded by ticket sales proceeds from the Community Chorus’s concerts.

 

–Submitted by Elizabeth Gardner