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Karen Horton, Choir Director and Organist of St. John UMC has prepared an Advent treat for the Anchorage community this coming Sunday, December 9 @ 7 p.m.

The St. John Choir has been practicing the Vivaldi Gloria (RV 589) for months. This baroque religious musical piece is one of the best known and well loved choral/chamber orchestra pieces in the world. Karen is retiring from her music roles at St. John at the end of this month. Come celebrate with the choir as she moves into her last few weeks concluding a successful and inspired tenure with St. John UMC.Antonio Vivaldi

Horton's choir performed this work four years ago which I commented upon in this blog post. Using the terms Musical Fireworks!!!, I was very impressed with this presentation of the Gloria.

The Gloria has the following movements, and is performed in less than an hour.

Gloria in excelsis Deo (Chorus)
Et in terra pax (Chorus)
Laudamus te (Sopranos I and II)
Gratias agimus tibi (Chorus)
Propter magnam gloriam (Chorus)
Domine Deus (Soprano)
Domine, Fili unigenite (Chorus)
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (Contralto and Chorus)
Qui tollis peccata mundi (Chorus)
Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (Contralto)
Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Chorus)
Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus)

Click here to hear sound samples of each of these movements.

Also being performed are a number of choral pieces for the Advent season. This is the concert of the season and it's free! A concert flyer is attached for download, below.