Friday, December second saw the performance of the Madison Symphony Orchestra with their annual Christmas Spectacular; complete with the awesomeness of bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen and the enjoyable Gospel arrangements of Christmas tunes by the Mt. Zion Gospel Choir.
It all started out with the ever popular "Joy to the World" which a lot of people don't realize was written by the master composer George Frederic Handel. That was an amazing arrangement.
That was followed by two excerpts from the "Christmas Oratorio". One sung by the choir the other by Mr. Ketelsen. The latter was incredibly awesome. Mr. Ketelsen was reading his music a lot, but that's generally to be expected at a concert like this. His voice is just sensational.
Soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine sang two arias from Mozart's "Exultate, jubilate" with amazing precision. I have heard her sing for the Christmas Spectacular before. This was the second time I heard her perform.
The first half concluded with the classic "Hallelujah" Chorus from Handel's oratorio "The Messiah". One thing that most people forget is that Handel wrote this piece for the ending of Part Two, about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.
The orchestra opened the second half with Leroy Anderson's classic "Sleigh Ride". That was the only instrumental piece in the whole show. That was amazing.
There was also a performance of "Sing We Now!" by one of the youth choirs. I thought that was very well done.
Ms. Guarrine and a boy soprano sang the "Pie Jesu" from Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Requiem". That combination was just spectacular. And a boy soprano is something no one should miss.
Mr. Ketelsen sang the so-called "Christmas Song" (also known "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire"). This version was the jazzed-up version that I find so annoying; but Mr. Ketelsen's voice is so awesome, he can make even mall-store muzak sound like art. And he did an awesome job at it. That song was swiftly followed by Mr. Ketelsen and Ms. Guarrine singing "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin. That was so cool it couldn't be beaten.
I don't think that any Christmas Spectacular is complete without some good Gospel music. The Mt. Zion Gospel Choir performed some amazing arrangements of "Carol of the Bells" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful". That had to be he Crowning Music of Awesome that night.
The performance was concluded with all the choirs singing a Gospel arrangement of "Sing Praises to Thee" and a Christmas sing along.
There were quite a few other pieces performed that night other than the ones listed here, but I don't have enough words to describe them. All I can say was that it was an awesome night, and if no one's heard Kyle Ketelsen sing before, that needs to be fixed. Pronto.
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