An Afro-Celtic Christmas Concert

12/14/19 City Cantabile Choir at Green Lake Methodist Church

Attending a chorale concert at a neighborhood church is one of our favorite holiday traditions. City Cantabile Choir always puts on a lively, creative concert with innovative musical interpretations, and this year was no exception. Collaborating with Shades of Praise Gospel Choir, City Cantabile presented a spirited mix of traditional Celtic, jazz and gospel Christmas music last weekend.

12/14/19 Members of City Cantabile and Shades of Praise Gospel choirs

I’ve brought along my sketchbook every time we’ve attended, and I remembered that the liturgical drape on the cross is always purple. The choir members usually wear traditional black with a red accessory – often just a scarf or necktie. Our seats were further back than usual, so I couldn’t see much detail, but I could count on those tiny touches of color.

The highlight of the concert was two teenage girls (twins, in fact) who performed a traditional Irish stepdance. For me, it was frustrating because I could barely see their legs, but I tried my best to capture their moves. (It was a good warmup for the next day, however, when I had more opportunities to sketch dancers at Winterfest.)

12/14/19 Irish stepdancers

12/14/19 a drummer and a few gestures of the
choir director