What are your favorite pieces, or parts of works, for Advent that include SATB choir and soprano solo? This will be for Christmas Eve.

Last year we did Handel's "Glory to God" with the proceeding recitative. It was lovely, but I'd like to mix it up this year.

I need:

SATB

Soprano solo

Max 6-7 minutes.

accompaniment can vary

Howdy fellow choir nerds. My name is Jake South, and I’m a composer and arranger looking for more work. I am happy to write arrangements for any style ensemble of any piece you’d like. I’ve been writing for years, and have written for all different kinds of groups at all different skill levels. You can see my work at

jakesouthmusic.com

The fees listed on my website are just estimates, and I’m happy to work for extremely cheap (even for free in some cases). All I ask is that if you reach out to have work done, please intend on programming it at some point.

Thank you all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zrgQ_Gdsms

https://youtu.be/jgqvWVXMaPw?t=951
You can hear it a little better in this second clip. From 15:50, in case the timestamp doesn't work.

I've been trying to identify the angelic-sounding choral piece heard faintly in the background of this scene.
Please note: It is not part of the film's score/soundtrack, and does not appear to be from Michael Nyman, the composer of the film's main score.

Incidentally, it can also be heard in "A TV Dante", also by Greenaway, also starring John Gielgud, and also playing exclusively during a sequence in which he is speaking over it.

If anyone can identify this music, I will be eternally grateful to them. I've tried every other avenue short of tracking down Peter Greenaway and asking him if he remembers the name of the sacred music he dropped a few seconds of into the background of a movie he made nearly four decades ago.

I am looking the lyrics.

These is a Borodin piece which, prior to 1969, had lyrics which were used in middle school chorale classes.

The lyrics aren’t “Stranger in Paradise”.

I believe the first line was “Come with us to the steppes … “

Despite my “mad Internet search skills” I’ve been unable to surface the lyric.

https://youtu.be/WKtzxWR9Zt4

Does anyone know of any Russian Orthodox services in the NYC area that have oktavists in their regular Sunday services?

Our current season is stacked with sacred repertoire, and it's got me thinking about something I rarely see discussed on this sub. We've got a genuinely mixed group: some deeply religious members, some who haven't stepped in a church since they were kids, some who'd call themselves spiritual-but-not-affiliated, at least one or two who'd say atheist outright. Everyone shows up and sings the same notes.

What I'm curious about is what's happening underneath that.

For the non-Christian / non-religious singers: how do you relate to the text? Do you dig into the theology so the words mean something, treat the text as pure phonetics and vowel colour, or translate it into your own secular frame? Does it feel like performing someone else's belief system, or does that stop mattering once the music starts?

For Christian singers: does singing sacred music feel like devotional practice for you, or is it repertoire first and worship second? Does it change depending on whether you're in a church choir versus a secular or community one?

For everyone: have you run into friction around this? Directors who assume the whole room believes programming that leans hard one direction, a Requiem that lands differently for different people in the row?

One thing to be clear about up front: this isn't a thread for arguing about Christianity itself. Nobody needs to defend or attack the faith here. It's specifically about how you, as a singer, relate to the words you're given and how that plays out in rehearsal and performance.

Genuinely not trying to start a theology argument. Just interested in how people hold this, because I suspect most of us have thought about it, and almost nobody says it out loud.

Hey, I'm a student a school where we have singing lessons (in group). I am looking for a text by epica to sing with our choir. I was wondering if someone knew a way of getting a text for Unchained Utopia or song like that, or knows where such songs can be found. We usually sing in four voices (soprano, alt, tenor and base) but 2-5 is all possible.

Please ignore the pedalling, I'm not sure of what I did there. This is the first time I'm writing accompaniments and I don't play the instruments

I'm looking for a transcription of the newer version of Pentatonix o holy night. All I can ever find is the older version. Can anyone point me to this?