Accompanied by pipe organ and brass ensemble, the Oshkosh Chamber Singers join with members of the community in song and Scripture celebrating the Advent and Christmas story.
Choir was my first home-away-from-home. I was a choir kid from the start. When I was in high school at West High I participated in every possible choir co-curricular. My college had a choir culture that permeated 1/3 of the entire student population. I've always just loved singing choral music, and this has opened a world of opportunity for me to travel, meet interesting people, fall in love, and be moved deeply by poetry and composition. My wife, Bridget, is the choir director at North High, so now I'm living my best life as "Choir Dad".
When I moved home after college I joined the Oshkosh Chamber Singers (OCS) at the start of the season in fall. Aside from a few years when I sang with newVoices Choir in Appleton, the Oshkosh Chamber Singers has been my creative musical outlet of choice. These are the people that I can let go with, be goofy, have fun, and make beautiful music with. After the passing of our founding director, Dr. Carl Chapman, OCS has been led by Herb Berendsen. Fun fact, Herb was also my choir teacher in high school! Singing under his direction again as an adult is indescribably rewarding.
This coming Saturday the 16th will be our Lessons & Carols Concert at Trinity Episcopal Church. We will have a concert at 2:00 and 5:00. It's particularly magical to leave this concert on nights when it's snowing. This concert is always my favorite one of the entire season. Modeled after the Kings College Cambridge concert introduced in 1918, this concert mixes scripture readings with spiritual music and carols sung with concertgoers. The nine readings are all done by community leaders. If you pick one concert to come out to the entire year, this is the one to attend.
I suspect we'll be back to pre-covid levels of attendees with two sold-out shows. If you want to experience a sense of community coming together to share something that transcends all of us, this is it. Oshkosh is full of choristers. From the Oshksh Youth Choir to our school choirs and beyond to our senior center choir - and everything in between - there are so many opportunities to raise your voice in song.
Come to this concert. Come see me just be a choir member. Meet my friends. Talk to audience members. Experience the joy of the season and be a part of something beautiful.
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