By Nancy Plum

Princeton Pro Musica pulled out all the stops recently for a performance of international music for the season, much of which was arranged by the ensemble’s Artistic Director Ryan J. Brandau. The concert on December 15 attended by a festive full house at Richardson Auditorium brought together chorus, orchestra, and two vocal soloists for an eclectic afternoon of music spanning the globe, multiple centuries, and languages.

Brandau has established a deserved reputation as an arranger and orchestrator, and a significant part of Pro Musica’s program showed off his talents. “Mash-ups” of two or more musical numbers put together are popular in the choral world, and Brandau included several of his own in the performance. The concert opened with a combination piece of “O Come Emmanuel” and “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” as set by Brandau. With supertitles and Pro Musica’s trademark precise diction, Brandau’s composition moved seamlessly between the medieval chant and the 17th-century English carol. Introduced by solo cellist Melissa Meell and delicately accompanied by harpist André Tarantiles, the two selections well demonstrated Pro Musica’s blended choral sound.

Brandau also turned to the British Isles for several familiar tunes from Ireland, England, and Scotland. The traditional Irish “Wexford Carol,” sung by guest soprano Claire Leyden, effectively retained a medieval feeling through Leyden’s clear singing, Brandau’s orchestration and especially elegant English horn playing by Karen Birch Blundell. Guest bass-baritone Brian Mextorf was featured in Brandau’s arrangement of the English “Wassail,” also accompanied by stylistically austere orchestration, including a lower string drone reflecting the carol’s origins in the Twelfth Night of Christmas tradition.

Choral masterworks are the bread and butter of Pro Musica’s repertory, and the holiday celebration included several excerpts from major works showing the chorus at its most comfortable. The ensemble performed the opening movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Magnificat with clean coloratura lines accented by a crisp trio of trumpets. The first choral movement of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah (“For unto Us a Child is Born) was sung with precision and with clarity ingrained in the singers from decades of performing Handel’s entire work. Both pieces were accompanied by refined orchestral playing.

Also singing from Messiah, soprano Leyden performed the show-stopping virtuoso “Rejoice Greatly,” easily handing the long melismatic vocal lines within Brandau’s lilting tempo. This was a lyrical and flowing version, with a pastoral middle section and Leyden’s return to the opening material sung with imaginative ornaments and very strong top notes. Accompanied by a chamber-sized orchestra, Leyden well conveyed the text of great joy to the whole hall.

Soloist Brian Mextorf also successfully connected with the audience, singing “Go Tell it on the Mountain” and the poignant “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Brandau’s orchestration of “Mountain” for winds and strings complemented Mextorf’s voice and provided a translucent backdrop to the laudatory spiritual. Brandau’s orchestral setting of the English folk song “Greensleeves” was lavish, with horns scored against lower strings and a graceful duet between English hornist Blundell and oboist Sarah Davol. The 17th-century “I Saw Three Ships” was sung by the chorus with a relaxed flow and an especially effective shift to triplet rhythms on the celestial text “And all the angels in Heaven shall sing on Christmas Day.”

There was plenty of musical fun to be had on the program as well. With a few sing-alongs mixed in with clever arrangements of familiar tunes, the audience at Richardson was effortlessly drawn into Pro Musica’s cheerful spirit. Princeton Pro Musica’s “A Feast of Carols” concert has become an annual tradition in the area, and the varied repertoire, combined with an audience ready for a bit of relaxation, guaranteed that Princeton will be ready for the holidays.

Princeton Pro Musica will present its next performance on Sunday, March 30, 2025 at 4 p.m. at Kendall Main Stage Theater at The College of New Jersey. This concert will feature Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” and is a collaboration with dancers of the Roxey Ballet. Ticket information can be obtained by visiting princetonpromusica.org.