Chorus Urbanus, the Gozitan Choir, presented the 13th edition of its annual Yuletide Concert at St. George’s Basilica on the 23rd of December 2010. This year’s edition was marking the choir’s 35th anniversary from its establishment on Christmas Eve 1975 as the resident choir at St. George’s Basilica. It was therefore fitting for the concert to be held in this basilica.

Mgr George Bezzina, one of the original members of the choir and presently the spiritual director of the choir gave an introductory speech outlining the major highlights of the choir’s history throughout the last 35 years.

For this concert, the choir was accompanied by the Urbanus Festive Orchestra specifically assembled for this occasion. The first part of the concert was dedicated wholly to music by Mozart. The choir performed Alma Dei Creatoris, Laudate Dominus, Ave Verum and the Gloria from The Coronation Mass with the participation of soloists Yvonne Galea (sop), Hilda Grima (alto), Mary Xerri (alto), Mario Portelli (ten) and Noel Galea (sop).

Chev. Joe M Attard recited a poem that he had written for the occasion while a collection in aid of Arka Foundation was held. A special audio-visual feature about the history of Chorus Urbanus prepared by CVC Productions was also shown.

The second part of the concert was dedicated to traditional Christmas carols. The Junior section of the choir joined the choir to perform the traditional Maltese carol Ninni La Tibkix Izjed. Then the Junior section performed Ejjew La Ddumux, Walking in the Air (solo: Angelica Portelli) and Jien Tifel Fqajjar (solo: Stefan Scerri). Chorus Urbanus then accompanied Mario Portelli (ten) and Noel Galea (bass) in interpreting O Little Town of Bethlehem and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

For this year’s concert the choir performed a very interesting and rather unusual adaptation of the ever-green carol Little Drummer Boy. In his adaptation of this carol, Dr John Galea intertwined Gregorian chant by the male section with the female soloists, Hilda Grima (alto) and Ruth Portelli (sop) and the rest of the female sections. The carol opened on a minor tone and gradually evolved into and ends on a more familiar major tone. The official programme ended with two very popular carols, Adeste Fidelis (solo: Noel Galea) and The Ukranian Bell Carol.

For the encore, Chorus Urbanus performed Hallelujah from Handel’s The Messiah which as the tradition holds, is always performed to a standing audience.

The artistic direction of the concert was entrusted to artist Austin Camilleri, whose simple but very effective lighting setting offered a different dimension to this concert.

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