Singers celebrate 37 years of concerts with ‘What Sweeter Music’

“What sweeter music can we bring than a carol, for to sing the birth of this our heavenly King?  Awake the voice!  Awake the string!”

These opening lines of a poem written in the 16th Century by Englishman Robert Herrick herald the theme of the 37th Annual Christmas Concert presented by the Depot Lane Singers, a 60-member community chorus that rehearses in Schoharie and presents concerts around the local area.

Two different settings of the poem “What Sweeter Music” will be sung — one by English composer John Rutter, the other by American John Leavitt.

Also on the program will be familiar Christmas songs such as “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” and “Ring Those Christmas Bells,” along with seldom heard gems like “There is Faint Music” and the beautiful “Climb to the Top of the Highest Mountain.”

Several selections will feature the addition of antiphonal choirs singing in different parts of each concert venue.

Performances are scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4, at the Duanesburg Reformed Presbyterian Church, and Saturday, Dec. 5, at Schoharie High School.  Both concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are available from choir members. Admission is $6 pre-sale and $7 at the door for adults and $3 for children under 12.

The Depot Lane Singers were founded by the late Frances B. Tripp in 1979 after she retired from teaching music at Schoharie High School.

Since 2005, the chorus has beendirected by Mitch Haverly, retired music teacher from Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School. This year the chorus will be accompanied by Ben April, with assistance on several selections from Mary Jane Bianchine.

The Depot Lane Singers are sponsored by the Schoharie Colonial Heritage Association, and a portion of the proceeds from the concerts are given to the heritage association to assist with its fundraising.

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