The Gaulitanus Choir's musically ushered in the New Year in style with a festive concert held at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, Gozo, on Sunday January 1. This 6th edition of A New Year's Toast - which was supported by the Kempinski Hotel, Bank of Valletta and Playpen - was very well-patronized by an extremely warm and appreciative audience.
The concert opened with the main excerpts from the oratorio The Story of Christmas by American composer Henry Alexander Matthews - an exciting and highly melodious work - which featured the choir and some of its soloists, namely sopranos Stephanie Sultana Portelli, Patricia Buttigieg, Annabelle Zammit, and mezzo-soprano Marthese Borg.
The Christmassy mood continued with Reminiscences of 'A Ceremony of Carols, an arrangement for clarinet and piano from Benjamin Britten's famous work by the choir's founder-director Colin Attard arranged. This teamed up up-and-coming Gozitan clarinettist Noel Curmi and Attard himself.
The same instrumental duo then introduced a section which presented bouncy yet non-Christmassy works. Nothing could perhaps be more catchy then Vittorio Monti's Czardas (as arranged by K. Terrett). This light mood was taken up by the choir and soprano Stephanie Portelli, who presented an extremely effervescent selection from Georges Bizet's great and ever-popular opera Carmen (arranged by J.S. Zamecnik) - with which the audience could not resist from joining in.
The concert then ended in a Christmassy mood with Ding, dong! The bells are ringing!, a medley for choir and soloists, namely Anna Bonello and Annabelle Zammit. Compiled by Colin Attard, this featured four popular numbers: Up good Christen folk and listen!, Carol of the bells, I heard the bells on Christmas Day, and Ding, dong! Merrily on high.
The Gaulitanus Choir, which was accompanied by its resident pianist Stephen Attard and conducted by artistic-musical director Colin Attard, acknowledged the audience's enthusiastic response by giving a bouncy encore: C. Attard's choral arrangement of Jerry Herman's We need a little Christmas.
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