Three Wise Men : When It’s Time for Holiday Music Programs, Savvy Directors Use All Their Experience

Music directors, like holiday shoppers, puzzle over what to offer their patrons.

“There’s a wealth of literature,” says John Alexander, whose Pacific Chorale sings a holiday program today at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. “For any one thing you can choose for another program, there are 20 choices for Christmas.

“My idea is to combine and mix what an audience thinks traditionally is Christmas music with the classical work that is the core of our existence.”

The Pacific will sing excerpts from larger classical works, including Mendelssohn’s cantata “Von Himmel Hoch” and Handel’s oratorio “Judas Maccabaeus,” which has “another Handel ‘Hallelujah’ that we don’t normally hear,” Alexander said. “Of course, we’ll also sing the ‘Hallelujah!’ chorus from ‘Messiah.’ ”

The Pacific will also give the Southern California premiere of a Gloria written by Roland Bass and include a range of carols from around the world. The Pacific Chorale Children’s Chorus will sing as well.

Agreeing with Alexander is William Hall, director of the William Hall Master Chorale.

“It’s always the most difficult program to put together,” says Hall, whose chorale will sing a “Christmas for the Family” program on Dec. 15 at the center.

“What you’re trying to do is satisfy many people. The audience is very important, and we really do try to reach out to families but try to give them as many great works of literature as we can. But every year, we try to find something brand new too.”

This year, Hall’s chorale will sing Rene Clausen’s Gloria. “He’s a young composer-conductor in Minneapolis who just writes beautifully for the voice,” Hall said. The program also includes Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols,” arranged by Hall for women’s voices and boys. (It usually is sung by a boys choir.) “We’re using the All-American Boys Chorus,” Hall said.

Hall’s chorale also will sing traditional carols and invite audience participation.

Alexander and Hall draw on a rich musical tradition, but baritone David Aiken--now a stage director--was present at the birth of one. He sang King Melchior in the original television production of Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” in 1951 and now produces touring versions each holiday season. One lands at Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton today under the sponsorship of Cal Sate Fullerton.

“I owe my whole professional life and welfare to Menotti,” Aiken said, speaking from his home in Bloomfield, Ind. “My first professional job was in his ‘The Consul,’ which was running on Broadway--though it really is an opera--to full houses.”

Aiken, 79, sang the role of Mr. Kofner, “the old professional man who always took care of the little Italian lady.”

Menotti picked him to create the role of King Melchior in “Amahl.”

NBC had commissioned a radio opera from Menotti, “The Old Maid and the Thief,” in 1939. The company commissioned “Amahl” in 1951. “They wanted it by Christmas time, but it didn’t have to be a Christmas opera,” Aiken said.

“At Thanksgiving, he was still worried about about what the hell he could write about.”

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One day, he saw Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Adoration of the Magi” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and remembered that in his native Italy, Christmas gifts were brought by the three kings, not Santa Claus. He went home and wrote the work in three weeks.

Having no models for the characters of the kings, Menotti created his own. “He assumed that Caspar was slightly deaf because he never heard what [Menotti as a child] wanted.”

“He was busy writing to the last moment. When we assembled in rehearsal, he made a change in a measure or two but otherwise didn’t change a note.”

The premiere took place on Christmas Eve 1951, and it was broadcast annually for the next 16 years. In response to demand, Aiken began producing road-show versions of the work 11 years ago.

Menotti’s attitude to his doing that? “He told me once on the phone,” Aiken said, “ ‘I’m so glad. It brings me money.’ ”

Although popular, “Amahl” has its share of critics, who call the piece too sentimental.

“Sentimental? Oh, God, yes,” Aiken said. “Nobody can escape the emotion of this piece. But if you cannot believe in love and pathos and bathos, if you don’t believe in miracles, all the good things and forgiveness and happiness and poverty, all those things are in there and everything works out great, how the hell can you stick around? How can you say that’s not nice?”

* John Alexander will conduct the Pacific Chorale and Pacific Symphony in a holiday program, “ ‘Tis the Season,” today at 8:30 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $19-$98. (714) 556-2787.

* “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” produced and directed by David Aiken, will be staged today at 8 p.m. at Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. It is sponsored by Cal State Fullerton’s Professional Artists in Residence. $11-$18. (714) 773-3347.

* William Hall will lead the William Hall Master Chorale in a “Christmas for the Family” Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $15-$45. (714) 556-6262.

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OTHER HOLIDAY PROGRAMS

* St. Andrew’s Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra perform music about “Christmas Through the Ages” today and Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. and Sunday and Dec. 15, at 4 p.m., St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, Newport Beach. $6. (714) 574-2253.

* The Saddleback Master Chorale and Orchestra perform “A Feast of Lights,” featuring music from Christmas and Hanukkah, today at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 and 7 p.m. in the McKinney Theatre at Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. $12-$15. (714) 582-4656.

* The Fullerton College Master Chorale will sing “Glorias” today at 8 p.m. in the Wilshire Auditorium at Fullerton College, 300 N. Lemon St. The program will include a Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi and one by John Rutter. $5-$7. [714] 871-8101.

* The Crystal Cathedral Chorale, soloists and orchestra perform Handel’s “Messiah,” Part I, plus the “Hallelujah!” chorus, Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in the arboretum at the Crystal Cathedral, 12141 Lewis St., Garden Grove. Free-will offering. (714) 971-4000.

* The Paul McNeff Singers sing Vivaldi’s Gloria in a Christmas celebration on Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 600 N. Main St., Santa Ana. $10. ($5 for children under 12.) (714) 525-7464.

* Richard Westerfield conducts the Pacific Symphony in Handel’s “Messiah” Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. $17-$49. (714) 755-5799.

* Charles Clark will lead the Orange Coast College Choir in Christmas songs Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the college’s Fine Arts Recital Hall, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa at 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets, $3.50. Same day, $5. (714) 432-5880.

* The Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Ballet Folklorico and roper Tony Munoz perform in “Fiesta Navidad” on Dec. 21 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center. The program is presented by the Orange County Philharmonic Society. $10-$38. (714) 553-2422.