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Thursday, December 11th 2025
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Vallejo/Vacaville A/E Source: Vallejo Choral Society sings in the holidays
By RICHARD BAMMER | rbammer@thereporter.com | Vacaville Reporter
PUBLISHED: December 9, 2025 at 4:13 PM PST
After 108 seasons, the Vallejo Choral Society can rightfully justify what its leaders say contributes to its longevity, that it “continues to unite, inspire, and educate its extended choral community through innovative programming and inclusive music-making.”
In a press statement, Rebecca Gulick, the society’s vice president, said the ensemble’s performances set for Saturday in Benicia and Sunday in Vallejo, “Carols and Lullabies,” attest to her description.
She called the program, “Carols and Lullabies,” a “festive pairing of two iconic Christmas choral collections.”
Artistic Director Julia Morris will lead the VCS Symphonic Choir in Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols,” which Gulick characterized as “a shimmering, harp-infused masterpiece featuring English poems from the 15th and 16th centuries.”
Some of the song titles: “That yonge child,” “As dew in Aprille,” and “In the Freezing Winter Night.”
No surprise the British composer’s piece is among the featured selections, as choral music in Great Britain is a highly developed tradition spanning hundreds of years. Consider that British composers have long been churning out works to meet the demands of choral societies across the globe. Germany also has a choral tradition, and the two countries account for much of the choral reportoire.
But the Americans will arrive, too, this weekend, with composer Conrad Susa’s “Carols & Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest,” which Gulick described as “a colorful set of carols drawn from Spanish-speaking regions and composed as a companion piece to Britten’s work.”
Some of the song titles? “A la Nanita Nana,” “Las Posadas,” and “El Rorro.”
Joining the choir on the Susa piece is an ensemble of notable instrumentalists: David Dieni on marimba and vibraphone; Zane Mallett on harp; and David Tanenbaum on guitar.
The VCS Chamber Choir also will perform a varied set, including “Noel Nouvelet,” a French carol; “Durme, Durme,” a Ladino lullaby; and “Shchedryk,”the traditional Ukrainian folk song (melody of the familiar “Carol of the Bells”).
Christmas carols originated from ancient pagan winter solstice songs and early Christian hymns, evolving in medieval Europe into dance songs, with verses and refrains that became popular during Nativity plays, noted Gulick.
“We remember carol tunes so well because they’re deeply tied to strong emotions, nostalgia, and childhood memories, acting as ‘sonic time machines’ that trigger happy feelings and link to family, traditions, and festive smells/sights,” she wrote in the statement.
Vallejo Choral Society produces five concerts each season. Besides the two this weekend, there are two in May, also held in Benicia and Vallejo, and one in March, the latter a gala fundraiser held in Vallejo.
A community chorus, the ensemble boasts more than 50 singers from throughout Solano County, from Vallejo and Benicia to Fairfield and Vacaville. Some of the singersalso hail from American Canyon and Napa. And members range in age, said Gulick, from “Gen Z to nonagenarians.”
Rehearsals for “Carols and Lullabies” began in early September, with Morris on the podium.
Gulick called her “a dynamic, knowledgeable, and highly effective music educator,” who can direct a group of non-auditioned singers and “take a set of music from note-learning to performance-ready in about three months.”
In January the ensemble begins rehearsals for the next gala concert on March 15. The theme of that program is “Shine on Those that Dwell in Darkness” for which the centerpiece is Adolphus Hailstork’s cantata for a tenor soloist in three sections: “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes.”
VCS welcomes new singers. For those interested, visit vallejochoral.org.
IF YOU GO
What: Vallejo Choral Society presents “Carols and Lullabies”
When and where: 7 p.m. Saturday, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 120 East J St., Benicia; and 3 p.m. Sunday, Springbrook Masonic Temple, 101 Temple Way, Vallejo
Tickets: $20 advance; $30 at the door; students, with ID, free
Phone: 707-653-6827
Online: vallejochoral.org
Email: info@vallejochoral.org
ARCHIVE
March 2019
Vallejo Choral Society Appoints Derek Tam as New Artistic Director Announcing March and June Concerts
Press Release
December 2018
Vallejo Choral Society Presents The Messiah, & A New Conductor For 2019 (Benicia Magazine)
November 2018
August 2018
June 2018
June 2018
August 2017