Family: Songs of Connection and Appreciation, the first full winter concert by the Wimberley Community Chorus since 2019, is scheduled to take place next week. The concert will have multiple performances: Dec. 9 and 10 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. All performances will take place in Avey Hall of The Chapel of the Hills at 14601 RR 12 in Wimberley.
When the pandemic shut down the chorus in the spring of 2020, the 100-member chorus was planning its 40th anniversary concert and gala. In 2021, the chorus experimented with smaller outside concerts at the Emily Ann Trail of Lights. But as much as these allowed them to keep performing, they didn’t have the same impact as a full performance to a packed house. The chorus board, after considering all the factors at play, decided fall 2022 was the time to return in full force.
This family and holiday themed program, under the direction of Texas State choral director Craig Aamot, creates a musical tapestry woven with threads of family, Christmas and Wimberley’s unique relationship with its living water. Songs in the program include “Turn Around” by Harry Belanfonte, “Somewhere in My Memory” by John Williams from “Home Alone,” “Down to the River” from “O Brother where Art Thou,” “I Love You/What a Wonderful World” arranged by Craig Hella Johnson, “Sweet Rivers” by Shawn Kirchner and “This Christmastide” by John Rutter. There will also be an audience sing-along of Christmas Carols and a reception afterward with seasonal refreshments.
Aamot joined the faculty at Texas State in 2013 and has led University Singers, Men’s Choir, Treble Choir and VocaLibre as well as lecturing in music literature and art history. He comes to San Marcos from Wisconsin, where he led one of the largest high school choral programs in the Midwest. His choirs have performed at state and regional ACDA conventions, the National Intercollegiate Men’s Choir Association convention and internationally — throughout the U.S., Italy, Spain, France, China, Australia and Ireland. Aamot is active as a clinician, with recent appointments at the Anchorage Choral Festival; the International Choral Festival in Sydney, Australia; and the Craig Hella Johnson Choral Festival in Dublin and Belfast, Ireland. Aamot’s father Mark led the choral program at Carroll University for 30 years, and his brother Kirk leads the choral program at Montana State University.
For more information, visit wimberleycommunitychorus.org.
