Festival Choristers herald Christmas spirit with a virtual concert

The voices of singers, sound of violins and melody of flutes rise in concord. With Christmas approaching, Festival Choristers, a group of practically 40 singers and instrumentalists drawn from completely different faiths, ages and walks of life in Hyderabad will probably be ringing within the Yuletide spirit nearly on December 15.

“We were not able to meet and rehearse due to the pandemic; the virtual concert will have the past recordings by Choristers and we hope to have a wider reach,” says chorister Aruna Bahuguna, a former IPS officer.

The concert may have — songs chosen from earlier performances of Festival Choristers and a efficiency by the junior choir ultimately. Aruna says, “We used to end the concert with ‘Let There be Peace’. We used to be accompanied every year by Dr. Naveen Elias, except for two years. We have selected pieces to represent each conductor and want to keep the list of selected songs a surprise. ”

The one-hour efficiency may have a vary of western classical (Mozart and George Frederic Handel), semi-classical, fashionable (John Rutter) in addition to Hindi and Telugu numbers.

Performance by the Festival Choristers is an integral a part of Christmas celebrations in Hyderabad, spreading love, peace and concord by means of their music.

The group was based by former IAS officers Daphne de Rebello and Rachael Chatterjee alongside with Aruna in 2006 when a group of singers introduced their first concert in Administrative Staff College.

Twenty carollers used to carry out at Raj Bhavan, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology or personal halls to a choose viewers. As the viewers numbers grew, the stage shifted to Ravindra Bharathi in 2007 and so they began having annual concert events, each private and non-private.

Planning for the annual concert begins in June, from choosing the music to printing sheets. A nostalgic Aruna says, “We miss the buzz; it is a huge exercise of buying matching saris for women and getting the blouses stitched; the men in the group get their shirts tailored. We’d practice at home and meet once a week for rehearsals at Vidyaranya school and exchange the joy and warmth of singing together. All these experiences made us what we are.”

Deepti Moses, one of many youthful crew members, has taken over the managerial function of the group.

Adds Aruna, “This break has given us time to introspect and appreciate what we have. When we get together next year, we will be doubly appreciative of being able to do it; we realise what we are missing now.”

The hyperlink for Festival Choristers’ virtual concert will probably be uploaded on December 14 midnight on their YouTube channel and will probably be accessible for a month.