Dear Mr. Edwards:

 

Here are the details for a few of my holiday compositions published by ECS Publishing.

 

Mi y'maleil (Who can recount) (Hebrew and English - original setting of a traditional Chanukah text - Translation by the composer) - SATB & piano - 2004 - ECS #6460.

 

Land of Crystal Dreams (a secular carol for the winter holiday season) - (English - text by Erica L. Hoffman) - SATB chorus & optional percussion (glockenspiel and vibraphone) - 2002 - ECS #6166.

 

A Prayer for Chanukah - (Al hanisim) - (English, Translation by the composer) - SATB & chamber orchestra or piano - 2001 - ECS # 5884.

 

Haneirot halalu - (a piece for Chanukah - original setting of a traditional Hebrew text) - tenor solo, SATB - 1999 - ECS #5492.

 

Thank you for your  consideration.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Stanley M. Hoffman

---

www.stanleymhoffman.com

While my own winter holiday music draws from the Christian tradition, I think that my piece Mary's First Lullaby offers an interesting perspective that would work for your concert.  It's just been published by Yelton Rhodes Music.  Here's a link to info about all their 2010 holiday samplers:

 

http://www.yrmusic.com/v2/download/perusalpdfs/yrm.mths.php

 

And here's a link to the SATB sampler with an excerpt of my piece:

 

http://www.yrmusic.com/v2/download/perusalpdfs/2010_YRM-SATB_Holiday_Sampler.pdf

 

More information about all my music, including links to published pieces, and sample PDFs and performance MP3s of works available directly, can be found at my website.

 

All best!

Jonathan Santore

info(a)jonathansantore.com

www.jonathansantore.com

Hi, Stephen, here are some of my favorites:

 

Chapua Kali Desemba (Chasing the Wild Winds of December) Swahili secular (Alfred)

 

I also like Hanerot Hallelu

 

John Leavitt has a wonderful setting of Ose Shalom in Hebrew (Hal Leonard)

 

An exquisite setting of O Magnum Mysterium from Venezuelan composer Cesar Alejandro Carrillo (earthsongs)

 

Enjoy! 

 

Barbara Stefan

Music Director

Columbia Pike Community Chorus

For something in the nicely pagan category, please check out my Mistletoe Carol available at http://www.redhouseartspace.com/choral-music.html.  You will also find additional sacred and secular Christmas pieces on this site.

 

Many thanks, and good luck putting together what sounds like an interesting program.

 

Chris Humphey

www.chrishumphrey.org

Hi, Stephen -

 

My Three a cappella Carols have gotten quite a number of performances since their publication by E.C. Schirmer a couple of seasons ago. Joy to the World, Silent Night and Good King Wenceslas offer fresh settings of the traditional texts.

 

Go here to listen to them in their entirety:

http://www.clareshore.com/LRoom.htm

 

Thank you!

- Clare Shore

For Pagan, Sheena Phillip's Dies Natalis Solis Invictus (Birthday of the Unconquered Sun) is a must; available from Canasg Music.  "To Drive the Cold Winter Away" from the Oxford Book of Carols is another good choice, as is "Deck the Halls", but using the original British text ("Fill the mead cup, drain the barrel").   Likewise, the orginal German text of O Tannenbaum is very much in the spirit of a pre-Christian Norse/Anglo-Saxon Yule celebration. glastonburymusic.org.uk is a good source of ideas, as well.

 

I do have some arrangements of some Pagan solstice/Yule carols.  Please email me privately about those: ravensongnarts(a)gmail.com

Dear Stephen,

I'd like to suggest the happy swinging choral song

"HAVE A NICE DAY",

you can sing it a cappella or with accompaniment,

it's availabble in the settings SATB or TTBB or SSA

 

Listen to HAVE A NICE DAY - voc.-instr. on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCantemus#p/u/12/TIemzfAuAcE

 

Lorenz

Hi Stephen!

 

Earthsongs has a few neat sets of Latvian carols by Andrejs Jansons. Some SATB, some SSAA, some TTBB.

http://www.earthsongschoralmusic.com/catresults.php

 

I'm rather fond of #3 in the first SATB set- Ai, nama mamina... Here's a clip of the Dale Warland Singers singing it:

http://www.amazon.com/Nama-Mamina-Three-Latvian-Carols/dp/B000QW17N6

 

 

Ocho Kandelikas, by Jagoda, arr. Jacobson. Transcontinental Music. Avail for SATB or SA - both with guitar.

Easy but fun!

 

 

You may already know Conrad Susa's Carols and Lullabies (Christmas in the Southwest). Multiple short movements- all lovely, whether done as a whole or hand-picking a few.

 

 

And for something off the beaten path (but really neat!)-- Daniel Pinkham's Nativity Madrigals.

 

 

 

-Beth Rota

bethrota(a)yahoo.com