“An Olde New England Christmas”

Guilford, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) presents “An Olde New England Christmas” at 7:30 on Friday, December 13, and again at 4:00 on Saturday, December 14. The a cappella vocal program was drawn from tune books by New England composers born in the middle of the 18th century: William Billings, Supply Belcher, Oliver Holden, Timothy Swan, and Samuel Adams Holyoke. These itinerant singing masters traveled the region from about 1770 through 1810, teaching sight-singing to select groups in church parishes. They gave concerts for local folks and then moved on to the next town. Seven of their works are included in this concert, along with another by British composer Joseph Stephenson, all contrasting with two modern pieces by New Englanders Karl P. Harrington and Charles Ives. While there’s a wide variety of expression in the collection, fans of shape-note singing will find some resonance of that style among them. . . . Alternating with the choral offerings are an instrumental prelude, interlude, and postlude of works by some of the same early composers, performed by a quartet of Guilford Chamber Players. . . . The program’s dramatic reading by FOMAG founder Don McLean is “Christmas Jenny,” a story by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930), who lived in Brattleboro for a time and became a highly regarded author of poetry, short stories, and novels. . . . After McLean’s reading, everyone joins in on a few seasonal carols before heading away into the night. Door donations at these performances are divided between FOMAG and Christ Church Guilford Society that oversees this historic property a bit over a mile south of Exit 1 off I-91, at the corner of Melendy Hill Rd. and Route 5 south.