The midcoast Maine-based a cappella vocal ensemble VoXX: Voice of Twenty will present its annual
winter series with four January 2024 concerts in Belfast, Phippsburg, Bangor, and Rockport. This year’s program theme is Winter Sun.
VoXX will welcome the New Year with a selection of sacred and secular pieces appropriate to the season and spanning many centuries, from the Gregorian chant Alma Redemptoris Mater to Music Director John Mehrmann's Eala Earendel, a modern piece with seventh century lyrics. Other offerings include two settings of Nunc Dimittis, by Henry Purcell and the contemporary composer Paul Smith; the rousing "O Radiant Dawn" by James MacMillan; another Alma Redemtoris Mater by Palestrina; Benjamin Britten's "A Boy was Born"; a lively "Fyer, Fyer," by Thomas Morley; and the heart-wrenching "Here is the Little Door" by Herbert Howells. Other offerings include pieces by Dufay, Victoria, Lassus, Howells, and John Stainer.
Concerts dates and venues are:
Saturday, January 13, 2024
7:00 pm
Belfast United Methodist Church
23 Mill Lane,
Belfast, ME
Sunday, January 14, 2024
3:00 pm
Phippsburg Congregational Church Church
10 Church Lane,
Phippsburg, ME
Saturday, January 20, 2024
7:00 pm
St. John’s Episcopal Church
225 French Street
Bangor, ME
Sunday, January 21, 2024
4:00 pm
Union Hall
24 Central Street,
Rockport, ME
Tickets still available at the door
We hope you will join us to welcome back the Winter Sun.
VoXX was formed around the turn of this century as Ave Maris Stella, a group of passionate singers who gathered in living rooms to challenge themselves with early, a cappella music. Since then, the ensemble has grown in size and skill and has built a loyal following while performing at many venues around Maine, from Portland to Blue Hill and many towns in between.
Today the ensemble enjoys the challenges of both well-known and unusual a cappella vocal music, with a wide-ranging repertoire that includes more familiar works by composers such as Byrd, Dufay, Josquin, Monteverdi, and Palestrina, along with less-familiar discoveries from the Medieval to the modern. The group’s full-length recording, “Favorites Old and New” will be available at the group’s concerts (while supplies last).