Christmas with the Charlotte Master Chorale
O Come All Ye Faithful

Friday, December 10, 2021 • 7:30 pm
Saturday December 11, 2021 • 7:30 pm

Charlotte Master Chorale
Charlotte Master Chorale Chamber Singers
Jordan Taylor, Tenor
Jonathan Rollin, Tenor
Emily Shusdock, Soprano
Philip Biedenbender, Assistant Director and Pianist
Kenney Potter conducting

Carol of the Bells, Mykola Leontovich/arr. Peter J. Wilhousky

Bogoroditse Devo, Sergei Rachmaninoff

Hodie, Nyi Nyi Myin

In Darkest Night, Philip Biedenbender

Hodie Christus Natus Est, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

One Sweet Little Baby, Shawn Kirchner

And the Glory of the Lord, George Frideric Handel

For Unto Us a Child Is Born, George Frideric Handel

Once in Royal David's City, Philip Biedenbender

O Holy Night, Adolphe Adam

In the Bleak Midwinter, Christina Rosetti/Christopher Aspaas

Betelehemu, Wendell Whalum

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Philip Biedenbender

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, arr. Pentatonix

Glory Hallelujah to the Newborn King, arr. Mark Butler

O Come All Ye Faithful, arr. Pentatonix

Soprano
Samantha Balsam*
Renata Dworak Berlin*
Erynn Malessia Chambers
Nina Chen Mica Cline*
Katie Colgate
Claire Crabtree
Sarah L. Fink*
Sarah Gould*
Darlene Ifill-Taylor, MD
Claire Incorvati*
Amanda McMullen
Fran Morrison
Abigail Okland*
Emma Rollins*
Emily Shusdock*
Rebecca H. Smith
Angela Stefanini
Melissa Theiss
Gwendolyn Trott*
Amaranth Weiss
Victoria Wojciechowski

Alto
Carin Bissiere-Grote*
Brett Blumenthal
Haley Bohon
Lori Garber
Kimberly Gilbert
Brooke Haney*
Lisa M. Harper
Laurel Johnson*
Kate Lavender
Claire Murphy*
Shiloh Rose
Lauren Russell*
Erin Schwarz*
Paige Sisk
Taylor Spakes
Christine Fink Starnes*
Cricket Weston

Tenor
Lamar Davis*
Joseph Few
Ned Harris
David Christopher Herring*
David Jacobs
Adam Krahn
Kevin Logan
Thomas Moncrief
Nyi Nyi Myin*
Jonathan Rollin*
Andreas Schuhmacher*

Bass
AJ Calpo*
Parkes Dibble
Stephen Field*
Richard Greene
Thomas Griffin
Johnathan Harding*
Charlie Moore*
Caleb Newman
Ethan Price*
Manley Roberts
Tony Sane
Robert Summerell*
Ray Trogdon

* denotes Chamber Singers member

Kenney Potter, Artistic Director

Kenney Potter is the Artistic Director of the Charlotte Master Chorale and serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Wingate University. His choirs have received wide-spread acclaim including winning the Grand Prix for best choir in the Pärnu International Choral Festival in Pärnu, Estonia. In recent years, he has conducted Handel’s Messiah and St. John Passion by J. S. Bach with the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra as well as the Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem. As a performer, he has been a featured soloist in Carnegie Hall, and was choir soloist for the Grammy Award®-winning Oregon Bach Festival choir as well as the International Bach Academy, conducted by Helmuth Rilling.

In addition to his work at Wingate and with the Charlotte Symphony, he serves as Choral Conductor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a clinician, Dr. Potter has conducted state-wide festival choirs for NAfME and ACDA in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia as well as in Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, South Africa. His compositions are published by Hinshaw Music, Choristers Guild, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing and he is founder and editor of Wingate University Music Press, which publishes Folk Songs of South Africa, a series of pedagogical resources that he co-authored with Dalene Hoogenhout, conductor of the Wits Choir of Johannesburg. In 2019, the North Carolina ACDA awarded Dr. Potter the Lara Hoggard Award for distinguished accomplishments in the field of choral music. He holds degrees from Florida State University, Portland State University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro resides in Charlotte with his wife, Heather, and their children, Syl and Calvin.

Philip Biedenbender, Assistant Director and Pianist

Award-winning composer Philip Biedenbender’s works have been performed by musical groups across the globe. He holds a bachelor’s degree in theory/composition from St. Olaf College and a master’s degree in choral conducting from Florida State University. As a pianist, he has collaborated with numerous honor choirs, ensembles, and organizations, including the St. Olaf Choir and the Charlotte Master Chorale. He currently serves as Choral Director at Ashbrook High School and Chancel Choir Director at First ARP Church in Gastonia, NC, as well as Assistant Director/Pianist of the Charlotte Master Chorale. His music is available from earthsongs and Biedenbender Music Publishing.

Carol of the Bells

Hark! How the bells
Sweet silver bells
All seem to say
Throw cares away

Christmas is here
Bringing good cheer
To young and old
Meek and the bold

Ding dong ding dong
That is their song
With joyful ring
All caroling

One seems to hear
Words of good cheer
From everywhere
Filling the air

Oh, how they pound
Raising the sound
O'er hill and dale
Telling the tale

Gaily they ring
While people sing
Songs of good cheer
Christmas is here

Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

On on they send
On without end
Their joyful tone
To every home

Ding, dong, ding, ding...... dong!

In Darkest Night

In darkest night comes helpless cry
as newborn babe wakes into light:
the star above a beacon of
most glorious birth, embodied Love.

Oh, feel the warmth of mother’s arms,
a close embrace that shades from harm,
and smell the hay in manger laid
to soften bed, to sweeten stay.

And hear the song of angel throng,
for peace and joy to earth belong:
in stable bare lies infant fair,
a Savior born to answer prayer!

Oh, taste the tears of long-lost years,
a world in need, awash in fear,
and see the child from heav’n exiled
come down to us to end our trials.

For he will grow and claim his throne—
so angel said. Thus mother knows:
“Now sleep, my son. Your rest is won,
although your work has just begun.”

One Sweet Little Baby

O Mary, shining glory! The Lord smiles upon you.
What a blessing is this little baby that you brought to our
world, all for the love of one sweet little baby, we have come so far.

O, a good old man named Simeon said, “I’m never gonna
rest till I see that Messiah child and hold him to my breast.”
O all for the love of one sweet little baby, we have come so far.

Many gonna speak against you, child, they’ll crucify all that’s true.
And your Mother Mary she will bear a pain that will pierce
her heart through, O all for the love of one sweet little baby, all for the love of a child.

O Jerusalem, your children are so tired of war.
My Lord, it’s time to walk with your children once more.
All for the love of a child, all for the love of one sweet little baby, we have come so far.

And the Glory of the Lord

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together;
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

For unto us a Child is Born

For unto us a Child is born,
unto us a Son is given:
and His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor,
The Mighty God,
The Everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace,
The Everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.

O Holy Night

O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appears and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; O hear the Angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O Holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is Peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name, all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us Praise His Holy name
Christ is the Lord; O praise His name forever!
His power and glory evermore proclaim
His power and glory evermore proclaim

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
the words repeat
of peace on earth, good-will to all!

I thought how, as the day had come,
the belfries of all Christendom
had rolled along
the unbroken song
of peace on earth, good-will to all!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“for hate is strong,
and mocks the song
of peace on earth, good-will to all!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
the Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
with peace on earth, good-will to all.”

Till ringing, singing on its way,
the world revolved from night to day,
a voice, a chime,
a chant sublime
of peace on earth, good-will to all!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan’s pow’r
When we were gone astray
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's pow’r
When we were gone astray
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Fear not then, said the Angel
Let nothing you affright
This day is born a Savior
Of a pure Virgin bright
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan's pow'r and might
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's pow'r

Glory Hallelujah to the Newborn King

Oh, glory hallelujah,
Who do you call that wonderful counselor,
Oh, glory hallelujah
Glory hallelujah to the new born king.

Let me tell ya He was born in a manger
He was born in Bethlehem,
the Son of the most high God
and Jesus is His name. Hallelujah!

Let me tell ya He’s the king of all nations
Savior and Lord of Lords
and he reigns forever and Jesus is His name

Oh glory hallelujah, wonderful counsellor
Glory to the new born King!