Get in the holiday spirit with Hoboken's Women Choir
Cantigas Presents Annual Winter Concert on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran at 57 Eighth Street (at Hudson)

Includes Sing-A-Longs of Popular Holiday Music

Hoboken's all-women community chorus, Cantigas Women's Choir, presents its seventh annual winter concert called MERRILY ON HIGH!: Songs for the Holiday Season on Saturday, December 13, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran at 57 Eighth Street (at Hudson) in Hoboken, N.J. The suggestion donation is $15 ($5 for seniors and students).

Joan Isaacs Litman directs the chorus, accompanied by pianist Erasmia Voukelatos, in a culturally and historically diverse repertoire of songs celebrating the holiday season, spanning the 12th to 21st centuries. Highlights include Medieval carols like the "Procession of Nuns of Chester," the dance-style "Gaudete," and movements from Argentine composer Leonardo San Juan's Magnificat.

Cantigas will also perform traditional Christmas music including "Ding Dong Merrily on High" and "Carol of the Bells" and Hanukkah music like "Ocho Kandelikas" by Flory Jagoda and "Zol Zein Sholom" by Joshua Jacobson with New York clarinet player Richard Goldsmith accompanying. Songs of the winter season include "Water Under Snow is Weary" by Harri Wessmann and "Night Cold with Frost" by Franz Joseph Hayden with lyrics by Cantigas' own member Catharine Baldwin.

"This concert is a rare gift to the community," Litman says. "This is an upbeat, family-friendly concert with live music, singing, instruments, and audience participation. It's the perfect break from the commercially-driven holiday season. What better way to ring in the holidays!"

Cantigas also uses music to empower women with annual performances at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J. "We're the only group I know of that regularly performs at the women's prison. The social justice strand of our mission is one that is at the root of who we are," Litman explains. The group makes its excursion to the prison later this December.

Cantigas Women's Choir, named after a medieval Spanish song form called a "cantiga," is composed of 50 women of varying ages and backgrounds and brings women of the community together to explore the rich tradition of women's singing. The group performs a broad spectrum of global music and advocates through song for those whose hearts need to be uplifted and whose voices need to be heard, performing regularly with the inmates of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J., and other community groups. Litman founded the group in September 2002.

Director Joan Isaacs Litman is a native of Los Angeles and has directed choirs in the New York metropolitan area for more than 25 years. Her choirs have performed at Lincoln Center, the United Nations, Carnegie Hall, and Kennedy Center. She was the winner of the first "Excellence in Teaching" award from Westminster Choir College. Litman is a member of the music faculty of the United Nations International School in Manhattan and a member of the summer faculty at the Kodály Institute at Capital University. Additionally, Litman is the author of Song Caravan: Songs of the Middle East. She is a founder and Music Director Emerita of Mustard Seed School in Hoboken.

Cantigas Official Web Site: www.cantigas.net Photos available upon request.

Contacts:
Joan Litman, Cantigas Director - 201-435-5380/joan_litman@yahoo.com
Rachel Chang, Cantigas Media Contact - 201-876-0870/rachelc77@yahoo.com