FPC Christmas Concert 2 (Sunday) - "Risen with Healing in His Wings"

1702 Iowa Street,Davenport IA 52803

19 December, 2021

Description

FPC's annual Christmas Concert featuring four choirs and orchestra. The Christmas Concerts at First Pres have become a much anticipated event in the Quad Cities, and after a year with no in-person concert, you’ll want to be sure to reserve your seats in advance. This year’s concerts, on the third weekend in December, feature many of the chruch’s great and beloved ensembles: the Sanctuary Choir, Chamber Chorale, Vesper Bells, Kildalton Quartet, and Celebration Singers, accompanied by full orchestra and Principal Organist Alex Gilson. This year’s repertoire is centered around a theme of healing. As the world continues to deal with the effects of COVID-19 and its many variants, it is our hope that this year’s concerts will bring about a sense of healing and recovery in our community. These concerts will be both a celebration of our Christmas traditions and an acknowledgement that many people are still grieving the loss of loved ones, of jobs, and of normalcy. A highlight of this year’s concert is a work that focuses on another type of healing, the need for which was brought to the fore in the past year: racial justice. The Ballad of the Brown King is the result of a 1950s collaboration between composer Margaret Bonds and Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. Telling the story of Balthasar, the African king who with the other Magi visited the infant Jesus, the work pulls from various musical styles popular in mid-century African American communities, including Jazz, Calypso, Blues, and Gospel. This masterwork is a celebration of the role that black and brown peoples have played and continue to play in the history of Christianity. The music ministries of FPC-Davenport are pleased to partner with the Safer Foundation of the QCs for this concert. The foundation assists local adults with arrest/conviction records and their families. Concert attendees are asked to bring donations of the following items: fast food gift cards, hats, mittens, sweatshirts, laundry soap, candy, and hygiene kits. *Masks required.