Our Lady of the Assumption Festival of Carols

Woodbridge, CT - The choirs of Our Lady of the Assumption presented “A Festival of Carols” on the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 2 in the Center Road church. An appreciative audience filled the pews to enjoy the hour-long program of music.

Father Gene E. Gianelli is the pastor of the parish and Father Joseph A. Sidera serves as parochial vicar.

Dr. Keith Smolinski is the director of sacred music at the church and planned the Christmas program for the concert. Margaret Hamilton is the children’s choir coordinator; she is assisted by Mary Grace Crisci and Barbara Thompson.

The adult choir is made up of volunteers from the OLOA parish. There are nine altos, seven basses, seven sopranos, fifteen second sopranos and eight tenors. The children’s choir is comprised of twenty-seven young singers.

Instrumentalist for the performance included tenor Gabe Ari on acoustic guitar, Stephen St. Georges on percussion, Russ Becker and Tom Gibbons on woodwinds and Dr. Smolinski on piano and keyboard.

The choir would like to thank the Knights of Columbus Trinity Council sound technician Andy Bucci, the choir librarian Jeana Richo and Margaret Hamilton and Pam Pero for preparing the printed program.

The order of the musical numbers included a mix of contemporary pieces and traditional carols. The concert opened with the combined choirs singing “Sing Gloria, Sing Noel!” by Joel Rane. The adult choir then continued the program with “The First Noel” by W. Sandys, arranged by Dan Forrest, followed by “Gospel Magnificat” by Patti Drennan. “Immanuel” by Garrett Paul Martin and Benjamin Davie Knoedler was followed by “See Amid the Winter’s Snow” by Edward Caswall and John Goss, arranged by Dan Forrest.

The Our Lady of the Assumption Carolers, under the direction of Nancy Kelly, then performed the traditional carol “Dona Nobis” while the children assembled in front of the altar for their spirited part of the program. They opened with “Jubilate Deo by Dan Forrest and then sang “Rejoice and Sing the Good News” by Don Besig and Nancy Price. “Born in Bethlehem” by Donald Moore closed out their set.

The carolers returned for the traditional carol “Ding Dong Merrily on High” while the children returned to their seats.

The adult choir continued with “Masters in this Hall” by William Morris, arranged by Mark Hayes, “Still, Still, Still,” a traditional Austrian carol arranged by Joey Hoelscher, and “A La Nanita,” a Spanish song by Jose Ramon Gomis and Juan Francisco Munoz y Pabon, arranged by Ruth Elaine Schram.
“Great, Great Joy” by Mark Hayes was followed by “O Holy Night” that was arranged by Dr. Smolinski. Then the audience was invited to join in the singing of “Silent Night” and Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”

The finale was the combined choirs singing “It Feels Like Christmas” by Paul Williams, arranged by Dr. Smolinski. The song was written for "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy a wonderful start to the Advent season.