Gaudete Sunday with the Philippine Saringhimig Singers

I love Advent generally but Gaudete Sunday is often the high point of the season. Tonight I went with a friend to my parish for an Advent/Christmas concert. It was absolutely glorious!! The acoustics in our church are very good (much improved after the redecorating we did a few years ago) but tonight we heard voices (as my friend noted) our church has never heard before!! If church buildings are anything like violins (which become more responsive the more they are played, especially in the higher ranges), the voices tonight shaped the acoustics as much as the acoustics shaped the sound we heard and made of St P's a better "instrument" itself!!

The choir was the Philippine Saringhimig Singers and they are just wonderful! Great voices, amazing spot-on harmonies,  wonderful dynamics (great pianissimo moving to a fortissimo marked by a tone quality that was astounding), and some really interesting arrangements marked the entire concert!! I was blown away with a duet of  "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" arranged by Margaret Bonds and sung by Maya Lopez and Rachel Larson. The range in these two voices alone and the concord and musical intimacy of the way they sang together, well, I need to say it again --- it totally blew me away!!

We are lucky to have Mary Jo Malabuyo as our music director here at St Perpetua's. She (an amazing soprano and instrumentalist besides directing our choir and cantors) along with her Mother (a professional opera singer) and Father sing with Saringhimig regularly and Mary Jo was largely responsible for bringing them here this year. We are fortunate indeed! Above all they sang with love, faith, and a joy which reflected the day perfectly! Gaudete!! He is Coming! Alleluia!! I am hoping this is the beginning of a seasonal tradition her at St P's!!