By Lawrence Bommer

CFP theater editor

Last weekend, Windy City Performing Arts celebrated its first holiday concert in the Center on Halsted, a home to welcome many more such celebrations. The musical forces, now minus the four-part Unison chorale, offered a generous, traditional program, appropriately called “Home for the Holidays.” Indeed the three well-attended concerts did create a musical home for families, both biological and gay, sharing sentiments if not always lifestyles. Contrasting homegrown favorites with more exotic “carols from the homelands,” the two-hour feast of music nicely warmed up the Hoover-Leppen Theater.

Attired in formal wear with red carnations, handkerchiefs and bow ties, the Windy City Gay Chorus, led by the affable Alan Wellman, delivered suitably festive fare. An assortment of musical chestnuts were roasted in a “Home for the Holidays” medley and a devotional to dour “Hanukkah” selection marked the Festival of Lights. Later, changing to winter sweaters, the chorus exploded with the hand-clapping African anthem “Betelehemu,” and mellowed  with two classic German carols.

Wellman’s worthy work was also showcased by Aria: Windy City Women’s Ensemble. Along with more familiar selections, the 10 women performed Daniel Pinkham’s retro-Renaissance Christmas Cantata, accompanied, somewhat raggedly, by the seven members of VII Brass. (The Brass were much more successful in their purely orchestral offerings.) Aria regaled the grateful crowd with lesser-known German carols, a Spanish rouser and a “Jingle Bell Swing” that didn’t quite. The loveliest discovery, a rarity and a delight, was Edward Elgar’s “The Show,” a seasonal gem with its gentle melancholy and haunting harmonies.

When the choruses combined voices, the gorgeous result was Conrad Susa’s memorable medley “A Christmas Garland,” which ranged from medieval music to Handel at his most magnificent, here effectively accompanied by VII Brass. Uzee Brown’s “Dide ta Deo” was as exuberant as the final musical gift, “Night of Silence/Silent Night,” performed with the male chorus singing amidst the audience, was serene. 

Next up for WCPA at the Center is a “Choral Classics” concert on Saturday, April 12, 2008 and the Pride concert, “Songs That Define Us,” on Saturday, June 14.