With a shared love of sacred and traditional Christmas music, more than 40 locals harmonize together this weekend for the Sequim Community Christmas Chorus’ 37th year of shows.
They’ve been practicing since September under the guidance of second-year Music Director Steven Humphrey, who says he’s found a sense of happiness in the range of participants.
“For me, there’s a joy in all of these people coming together with different faiths and different denominations to sing about the birth of Jesus,” he said.
“As we get closer to the concert, it just coalesces into this bundle of joy.
“(Practices) are my favorite day of the week … I walk out of rehearsals five feet off the ground.”
Shows take place at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, and 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 7-8 in Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church, 30 Sanford Lane. Admission is by donation, with proceeds supporting the Sequim Food Bank and Clallam Children’s Choir. Tickets are available at the door, and in advance at the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Joshua’s Restaurant in Port Angeles. Organizers also ask for non-perishable food donations for the food bank.
Humphrey said he’s been thinking about the show’s theme “The Christmas Story” since finalizing the 2023 shows. With a packed program, he shifted some songs to this year that cover events before, during and after Jesus’ birth, along with the larger story arc of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In the show’s program, Humphrey writes that “within this vast story arc is to be found a wide range of mood and emotion from longing and loss to joy and wonder.”
“This was a lot of fun to put together,” he said at a recent rehearsal.
Joining the chorus this year is the Clallam Children’s Choir with 11 children directed by Joan Reeve Owens singing “The Cuckoo Carol,” a traditional Czech carol, and the solo portion in “Gesú Bambino.”
Other highlights of the program include two upbeat West Indian carols “The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy,” and “Mary’s Little Boy Chile” along with the traditional sing-along portion with “Joy to the World,” “The First Noel,” and “Peace, Peace.”
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Joan Reeve Owens, director of the Clallam Children’s Choir, readies her students to perform with the Sequim Community Chorus at a recent rehearsal. The group will sing “The Cuckoo Carol,” a traditional Czech carol, and the solo in “Gesú Bambino.”
Christmas connection
As tradition, the only requirement to join the Sequim Community Christmas Chorus is simply a love for singing about Christmas.
“As (former director) Gary McRoberts used to put it, ‘y’all come sing,’” Humphrey said.
“He meant anybody. You didn’t have to read music, and you don’t. There’s no audition. You come and sing.”
He estimates about 40% of singers learn the music by ear as they do not know how to read music, and he’s put together teaching tracks for them to listen to throughout the weeks.
While there’s a broad range of singers, there are also many accomplished singers featured throughout the show, too.
“It’s a strong group of people,” he said.
The chorus returned last year after a three-year break with Humphrey taking the helm from Louise Pluymen, who moved out of the area.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash Sequim Community Christmas Chorus’ show “The Christmas Story” features many soloists, including Destiny and Doug Woods in “See Amid the Winter’s Snow.”
Humphrey’s wife Kyra had been participating in the chorus since they moved to the area in 2012, and Steven was suggested to lead the chorus as he directed music for various productions at Olympic Theatre Arts.
“It’s been a labor of love,” he said.
Humphrey has worked with board members year round on the program with rehearsals starting in September and going once-a-week leading up to the shows.
Patty Davis, a chorus member for two years and new board member, said as they’ve gotten closer to the shows, it’s become more rewarding.
“We sound fabulous,” she said.
Davis said the chorus also helps bring a deeper meaning to the Christmas season.
Some of her favorites this season include “Sing Gloria!,” “The Sussex Carol,” and “See Amid the Winter’s Snow” by Humphrey’s friend Theodore Deacon.
She said the song has been revamped for this year’s show to make “it even more beautiful.”
For the chorus, Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church donates its Fellowship Hall for rehearsals, and its sanctuary for performances.
Organizers estimate most churches in Sequim and many in Port Angeles have representatives singing in the chorus.
Following the performances, Clallam Children’s Choir will resume its regular practices in January at Trinity United Methodist Church. Interested families can contact Joan Reeve Owens at 360-808-2475 or email to jreeveowens@gmail.com.
Sequim Community Christmas Chorus
presents in its 37th year “The Christmas Story”
When: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6; 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 7-8
Where: Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church, 30 Sanford Lane.
Admission: By donation with proceeds supporting Sequim Food Bank and Clallam Children’s Choir; donation of non-perishable food items also encouraged
Tickets at Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce in Sequim, and Joshua’s Restaurant in Port Angeles, and the event doors.
Music director: Steven Humphrey; pianist: Mark Johnson.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Sequim and Port Angeles singers present the 37th annual show for the Sequim Community Christmas Chorus from Dec. 6-8 at the Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ In his second year leading the Sequim Community Christmas Chorus, Steven Humphrey said it’s “been a labor of love” and he’s left rehearsals so happy he feels like he’s floating five feet off the ground.
