Local Master Chorale announces holiday season schedule of events

The Santa Clarita Master Chorale has announced its 2020 holiday season, including a virtual concert performance scheduled Sunday.

“The holidays are the time for concerts, for singing and celebrating with family and friends — pandemic or not,” said Allan Petker, artistic director of the Santa Clarita Master Chorale. “We are so excited to be able to safely share the spirit of the season with our community.”

First, the chorale will present “When You Believe” at 4 p.m. Sunday. It will be an all-virtual concert with featured soloists, archive clips of the full chorale from past holiday concerts, interviews with special guests including Mark Hayes, one of the chorale’s favorite composers, and some surprises. Although the concert is free, a donation of $25 or more to help support the chorale would be appreciated.

Next, the chorale once again will partner with the Santa Clarita Ballet to perform the “Messiah Sing and Dance Along” at 4 p.m. Dec. 20. The program will include a virtual concert of the Christmas portion of Handel’s “Messiah” with the Santa

Clarita Ballet dancing to the chorus movements.

The program will include a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of this program, including footage of the rehearsals. Although the concert is free, a donation of $10 or more to help support the chorale would be appreciated.

Finally, the chorale is launching “Carol-OGram.” For a donation of $100 or more, a quartet of select singers from the Santa Clarita Master Chorale will record a virtual personalized holiday greeting card as a gift from you to the person (or persons) of your choosing. For $200, they will customize your greeting for up to five people, and up to 10 people for $350.

Established in 1998, the Santa Clarita Master Chorale promotes fine choral music through their yearly concert series, educational enrichment programs and involvement in community-based arts platforms. Under the artistic direction of Allan Robert Petker, the chorale performs works selected from all periods of the choral repertoire that has built a large contingent of loyal fans of all ages. To donate or to watch the live streams go to SCMasterChorale.org.