Welcome to “Backstage with Portland Choir & Orchestra.” This is our podcast series where we pull back the curtain on some of our performances and take a closer look at the music: its background, its meaning and why we thought our audience would like it.

00:00 Today’s theme: Christmas stories.

In each episode I am joined by one of our conductors—today by Dr. David Thomas, Artistic Director of Portland Choir & Orchestra, and we look back through our archives to find examples from our performances that correspond to our theme.

I think you will enjoy learning a bit about the background of these musical numbers, but I think you will especially enjoy watching and listening to the performances armed with new insights about them.

Today's musical selections each tell a Christmas story: The first with a narrator, the second through dance, and the third with video:
01:49 Longfellow’s Christmas, lyrics by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, musical setting by Mack Wilberg, narrator: Edmund Stone
19:09 ’Twas The Night Before Christmas, lyrics by Clement C. Moore, music by Ken Darby, feat. Fired-Up Dance Academy
30:23 What Shall We Give?, traditional Catalonian carol, English text by David Warner, arr. Mack Wilberg

To learn more about Edmund Stone visit [ Ссылка ]
To learn more about Fired-Up Dance Academy visit [ Ссылка ]
These 2 Tabernacle Choir videos were referenced in this episode:
- What Shall We Give: [ Ссылка ]
- O Come Little Children: [ Ссылка ]

You can watch two of today's musical selections directly on YouTube (without analysis or commentary):
Longfellow’s Christmas: [ Ссылка ]
’Twas The Night Before Christmas: [ Ссылка ]

To watch more Christmas music performed by Portland Choir & Orchestra, click here: [ Ссылка ]

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