ORANGE : Singers Prepare for Choral Event

Michael Short was understandably frenzied as he tried to meld 325 voices into one harmonious stream in preparation for the city’s first candlelight processional this weekend.

With only a few hours to rehearse, Short kept a frantic pace with his baton Monday evening as six community choral groups, including bell ensembles, came together for the first time.

“I would like you all to not breathe after ‘gloria’ please,” Short said to the singers, who were practicing “Angels We Have Heard on High.” “You can breathe any time except after ‘gloria.’ ”

Short, the Orange High School Choir director, is tireless when it comes to music. In his spare time, he leads his church group and the community choir. This year, he also decided to launch what organizers hope will become an annual holiday event.

“I think it’s great having all these different choirs come together,” said Short, who also is writing the orchestrations for the processional. “I always sweat a lot but it is just exciting. It’s motivating to me how excited everyone gets.”

Dorothy Wright, event organizer and community choir singer, remembers Short suggesting in the fall that the city’s various choirs try to put something together in the Old Towne Plaza area this year.

Sunday, beginning at 5 p.m., they’ll have their chance.

The singers will proceed down East Chapman Avenue holding battery-operated candles and singing carols before filing into bleachers in front of the plaza’s traffic circle.

Along with the choirs, made up of church, high school and community groups, the two-hour show will include a 25-piece orchestra, three bell choirs, a light show, storytelling and the annual lighting of the municipal Christmas tree and menorah.

Stage jitters aside, the only real anxiety organizers mention is rain.

Sound and light producer Derrick Rush said the show could not go on outside if it rains. It also could not be postponed because filming of a Tom Hanks movie in the area already has pushed the event to the last free weekend before Christmas.

Wright said organizers will create a backup rain plan and “have faith” the skies won’t open between 5 and 7 p.m. Sunday.

“I’m not the least bit concerned about the performance, because the choirs have been practicing the music since September,” Wright said.

Funds for the extravaganza, which will cost about $2,000, have been pulled together through fund-raisers, choir dues and a grant from Kaiser Permanente.

Seats will be set up for about 600 people, and local merchants will provide free hot cider and coffee. Organizers hope to improve on the event each year until it rivals Disneyland’s processional.

“We don’t get to set traditions very often, and here’s our chance to set a tradition for the city,” Wright said.