Skylark Vocal Ensemble director Matthew Guard: “It makes us better musicians, going through the process.” Sasha Greenhalgh photograph
Keith Powers
Skylark Vocal Ensemble works hard. Three Grammy nominations in barely a decade of music-making prove that.
“Even during the pandemic we did about 50 programs,” says artistic director Matthew Guard. “We basically had online programs once a week. We did some recordings, and a lot of the artists did solo programs.”
No surprise. The Skylarks—usually just more than a dozen strong—have always kept an active profile. Performance dates for this month’s A Christmas Carol include venues north, south and west of Boston, and a new offering in Bedford, NY, near where Guard and his wife Carolyn—executive director of Skylark, and longtime mezzo member—have made a family home.
“The online work sustained us,” Matthew Guard says, “but we are excited to be performing again.”
The Skylarks did sing five concerts through last year’s Omicron season, but “audiences were slower to return than anticipated,” he says. “I’ve heard this from other ensemble leaders as well: attendance is more program-specific now. People are making last-minute decisions, and that seems reasonable, as a consumer. It makes it hard on organizations—hard to know what marketing is working. But everyone in the group is still singing, and it’s great when we’re together.”
Skylark sings this arrangement of A Christmas Carol for the second time. Skylark commissioned the score from composer Benedict Sheehan, and Guard himself condensed the libretto—“I had to remove 80 percent of the text,” he says. Storyteller Sarah Walker narrates the concert-length work.
“We commissioned it two years,” Guard says, “and recorded in August 2021. Performing seems natural after the recording, when we’ve done something a bunch of times. It makes us better musicians, going through the process.”
Of course, multiple programs dot the remainder of this season’s calendar. A series of February concerts feature French music, which will be recorded as well. Skylark gives the world premiere of Nell Shaw Cohen’s cycle Sauntering Songs in April—“a cantata with light instrumentation,” Guard calls it. Four concerts around Memorial Day feature Poulenc’s Figure Humaine, and examine the power of the arts in time of war.
“We have great stuff coming up,” Guard says. “We’ve done our best to take care of people, and the group has sounded astoundingly beautiful lately.”
Skylark Vocal Ensemble sings Benedict Sheehan’s setting of A Christmas Carol, with storyteller Sarah Walker, in Bedford, NY (Dec. 11), Falmouth (Dec. 14), Weston (Dec. 16) and Newburyport (Dec. 17).
Palaver, Diehl, Liu/Gibson, Helmchen: Chamber music events, Dec. 1–4
Mostly staying away from holiday music, out of respect.
Palaver Strings collaborates with mezzo Sophie Michaux for music of Björk, Shaw, Ravel, Wallen and Hisaishi Dec. 1 at the Lilypad in Cambridge. Horszowski Trio performs music of Schumanns and a Paul Chihara world premiere on the 2nd at Longy. French hornist Brian KM and his computer Stan perform original works for horn and electronics on Dec. 2 at the Record Company, part of the Boston New Music Initiative.
Shaw Pong Liu (erhu, violin) and poet Regie Gibson perform a new duet on the 3rd at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, part of the Celebrity Series. On the same program, musicians from City Strings United and the Boston City-Wide String Orchestra will perform Liu’s arrangements of traditional songs that would have been sung by Chinese and Black transcontinental railroad workers. Mistral does its Baroque Big Band Dec. 3 at Ruggles Baptist Church. Pianist Yoav Levanon performs Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov, and Gershwin Dec. 3 in Brookline.
The Boston Camerata begins its seasonal tour Dec. 3 in Newbury, then on to Boston (Dec. 4), South Hadley (Dec. 5), Storrs (Dec. 6) and Santa Fe (Dec. 18).
Adventurous pianist Aaron Diehl plays Burleigh, Price, Still, Ellington, Williams and Bonds at the Gardner the afternoon of the 4th. Christian Tetzlaff, in the cozy Shalin Liu Performance Center, the afternoon of the 4th? Not to be missed. Bach sonatas and partitas.
Seven Times Salt presents solstice-y music Dec. 4 at St. John’s Episcopal in Beverly Farms. Violinist Joshua Peckins continues his solo series with Bach, Hosokawa, Montgomery and Paganini Dec. 4 at Cambridge’s First Church and Dec. 12 at the Somerville library west branch.
It’s French this month at First Monday in Jordan Hall—Ravel, Dutilleux, Fauré second piano quartet—on the 5th. Pianist Martin Helmchen solos (four Bach partitas) at Longy’s Pickman Hall on the 6th, part of the Celebrity Series.
CoOS, Junction, Cho, Wheeler: Chamber music events, Dec. 9–14
Castle of Our Skins culminates a three-day study of the work of Anthony Green with a performance of the composer’s Her Phantom Happiness on Dec. 9 at Longy. Dino Annex springs back to life Dec. 9 in Watertown, with music of Ndodana-Breen, Roustom, Shariatzadeh and Shirazi. Tallis Scholars sings Renaissance polyphony (and Pärt) Dec. 9 at St. Paul Church in Cambridge, a longstanding annual treat brought in by the Boston Early Music Festival.
Junction Trio (Tao, Jackiw, Campbell) program includes new work by Amy Williams and some old pieces too (Ciconia, Gesualdo) on Dec. 10 at Jordan Hall, part of a busy Celebrity Series month.
Musicians of the Old Post Road perform Moravian Christmas music Dec. 10 at Emmanuel, Dec. 11 in Worcester, and Dec. 17 at the Gloucester Meetinghouse. The intrepid Criers perform music of Saariaho, Stucky, Joachim, Clara Schumann and Brahms on consecutive afternoons: Dec. 10 in JP, and Dec. 11th at Longy. Pianist Seong-Jin Cho gives a Boston recital debut at Jordan Hall Dec. 11, part of the Celebrity Series.
Worcester Chamber Music presents music of Corelli, Leonarda, dall’Abaco, Telemann and Bach with guests Jesse Holstein (violin) and John McKean (harpsichord) on Dec. 8 in Princeton and Dec. 9 in Worcester.
New England Conservatory has its chamber music showcase running Nov. 29 through Dec. 11—check the NEC site for a dozen or so concerts.
Scott Wheeler hosts poets (Lloyd Schwartz, Jeffrey Harrison, Megan Marshall, Anna V.Q. Ross) and singers (Sarah Chalfy, Jonathan Woody) to interpret his songs on the 14th at the Boston Athenaeum.