Dance, drama, a little comedy — and most of all, the music
CAMBRIDGE — This season, Arcady’s annual Christmas concert will be a culmination of creative flow that conductor Ronald Beckett describes as “an evolution” of his music since the release of the 2002 album “Welcome Yule.”
Besides, holding a Christmas concert gives Beckett an excuse to celebrate his favourite holiday featuring his own compositions as well as arrangements of iconic holiday songs.
Arcady, an instrumental and vocal ensemble with 150 musicians on its roster, will perform “There’s a Song in the Air: A Timeless Holiday Classic” on Sunday afternoon in the intimate Cambridge Arts Theatre.
“I’ve always loved Christmas,” said Beckett, recalling the annual holiday concerts he held in the basement of his home.
“When I was nine years old I used to bring people into the house, friends and family,” he said. “I would decorate the basement; print off programs on a Gestetner.”
The hand-cranked copiers were inconsistent — after running a few copies, the rest of the programs would get progressively lighter. When you’re only nine, you make due with the materials at hand, yet he took these concerts seriously, acting as professional as possible for a little kid with big dreams.
“I was very formal about it,” he said, noting the concerts featured himself as a soloist and would always include a prelude.
His father’s basement bar would also be well used by the adults, though he said they seemed to enjoy his music, returning year after year right up until he was a teenager and left for university.
“You could see where I was going to go with this,” he added with a laugh.
There was just one niggling doubt in his mind, a possible career choice unrelated to music: pro basketball in the NBA.
Then he met an inspiring teacher at his Simcoe high school.
Beckett had his early piano training under Ray Daniels, a teacher who eventually moved to Kitchener where he spent a large part of his career at Eastwood Collegiate as head of the music department.
“He was a fantastic musician; he was responsible for getting me interested,” said Beckett. “I would write compositions and play for him.”
Beckett graduated with a master’s of music degree in composition from the University of Western Ontario and established himself as a composer and conductor. He founded Arcady to give young professional singers performance experience.
“Each one is a soloist,” he said. “It’s an outstanding choir.”
Beckett said a highlight of all Arcady’s shows is the humorous short dramas centred on tenor/ actor Lanny Fleming, who also serves as section lead with the Guelph Chamber Choir.
Sunday’s concert will feature more than just songs from the “Welcome Yule” album as each song is accompanied by a short dramatic piece.
“This year we added dancing,” he said, noting the concert will include young Cambridge and Brantford singers as well as dancers from the Academy of Ballet Classique in Cambridge.
Beckett said this concert, with its 30-voice choral group, will be less formal than in the past, more upbeat and fun in keeping with the season.
“People want to hear live music, people want to hear live vocal music,” he said, adding Christmas concerts are all about tradition.
“It evokes wonderful memories of childhood,” he said, noting there is not a strong culture of people singings in groups in North America other than in choirs — except at Christmas when everyone can feel free to sing the familiar tunes.
No other holiday can boast of such a lovely tradition, he said.
“I ask people (at the concerts) if they know the words, they can join in,” he said.