Holiday Pops to feature Old North Children's Choir under the direction of Rebecca Kenneally

Ten children from the Old North Church Youth Choir and Old North Festival Youth Chorus under the direction of Rebecca Kenneally will perform in this year’s Holiday Pops Concert along with lyric soprano Katie O’Reilly and The Hillyer Festival Orchestra at the 17th Annual Holiday Pops Concert on Saturday night, December 13, at Abbot Hall in Marblehead.

This festive evening of magnificent holiday music is presented by The Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor.

The children performing are Annie Burgett, 13, of Swampscott; Ila Bumagin, 8; Tara Caldwell, 11; Lane Davis, 12; Katharine Ducharme, 11; Aidan Eager, 9; Amelia Eager, 10; Olivia Haydar, 11; Meryl Hollister, 11; Samantha Power, 12; Nick Sears, 12; and Niamh Sullivan, 13, of Marblehead. They hale from the three different children’s choral groups at Old North Church in Marblehead. There are two church choirs for children, Cecelia Choir (grades 1-3) and Parish Singers (grades 4-8), as well as The Old North Festival Youth Chorus, a community youth chorus which meets for the Christmas season.

The 60 children in the year-round, Old North Church Youth Choir groups rehearse weekly and sing in services, presenting a musical offering to the congregation to enhance worship for everyone.

The Festival Youth Chorus received second place in the American Prize in 2011 for Community Youth Choirs. The chorus is open to all community singers in grades 4-8. Rehearsing for 8 weeks in October and November, these approximately 45 singers prepare a 15-minute program of challenging, beautiful music to sing in the gala concert presented during Marblehead’s Christmas Walk Weekend.

Rebecca Kenneally is in her 15th year as the Old North Church Youth Choirs Director. She is Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Endicott College. Previously, she was the Director of the Women’s Chorus at The New England Conservatory of Music. This year, she has been named an International Conducting Fellow for the American Choral Directors Association International Conductors Exchange Program with Sweden, an honor for which she will host Swedish conductors at US choral conferences, and travel to Sweden in to represent the US at conferences there.

The Holiday Pops evening will begin at 7 p.m. with a Dessert Reception for all ticket holders; the concert will begin promptly at 8 p.m. The raffle for Martha Quigley’s original painting, “Snow Shower,” will be held the night of the concert during intermission.

Floor tickets are $60 each and available exclusively by mail through the order form in the November 13 issue of The Marblehead Reporter or through the downloadable order form at www.rcomh.org.

Balcony tickets are $35 each and are available online at www.rcomh.org or in person in Marblehead at Arnould Gallery and Framery, 111 Washington Street; National Grand Bank, 91 Pleasant Street; and, Spirit of ’76 Bookstore, 107 Pleasant Street.

Raffle tickets for an opportunity to win Quigley’s Holiday Pops logo painting, “Snow Shower,” are available where balcony tickets are sold, at the Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor’s table at the Artisans’ Holiday Marketplace during Christmas Walk, and the night of the concert. Giclee prints and notecards featuring the artwork are available online at rcomh.org, at the Artisans’ Holiday Marketplace and the night of the concert.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit the scholarships and philanthropic projects of The Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor.

For more information, visit www.rcomh.org or contact Bill Bartin at 781-476-0600 or wbartin@infinexgroup.com.