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The Capital City Minstrels – Winter Concerts 2018
Capital City Minstrels November 30, 2018
The Capital City Minstrels will celebrate the sound of Christmas and the theme of 'Peace' at its upcoming winter concerts in December in New Delhi.
The Capital City Minstrels (CCM) returns this winter to celebrate the sound of Christmas with their 'Peace' themed concerts. As winter descends in all its beauty, the music will showcase the hope for a new season of peace – in every aspect of life, in an increasingly fragile, fractured world. The group will celebrate a number of women composers in the selection of music, as well as welcome back to the helm, Delhi based musician, composer and director, Sharmila Banerjee Livingston, as conductor of the group. Performing a dynamic Christmas repertoire, CCM will give the audience a taste of the joyful, inclusive and unifying nature of choral music.
December 15, 7:30 PM – Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre. Tickets available on Bookmyshow
December 18, 7:00 PM – Cathedral Church of the Redemption, 1 Church Road, North Avenue (Free entry)
This season's repertoire celebrates peace and harmony across pieces that span genres and time periods. The rock ballad, Go, Light Your World by Chris Rice, urges everyone to keep hope alive and "hold out your candle for all to see it", while Stevie Wonder's Someday at Christmas prophesies that peace will come "when we have found what life's really worth." Dona Nobis Pacem is traditionally sung at Christmas for its message of peace, and A Christmas Blessing by Lloyd Larson and Pamela Stewart wishes the peace of the season to fill our world. The latter is also significant as one of a few carefully selected pieces by Sharmila Banerjee Livingston to celebrate women composers and lyricists, others including Christina Rossetti, Ruth Morris Gray and Mary Lynn Lightfoot. From songs of jubilation to calming lullabies, songs that make you want to sway and clap, to poetic pieces that conjure visions of a winter night, the sound of Christmas will resonate through the concert.
About the Conductor
CCM has been conducted by various conductors from across the world, and is delighted to welcome back Delhi musician, composer and director, Sharmila Banerjee Livingston. Sharmila has acquired the moniker of Singing Baker over the years due to her dual professions in music and food.
With a music degree from Wheaton College, Illinois, she has conceptualized, composed and directed several musicals, commissioned in celebration of major milestone events for schools, with casts ranging from 350-1000 members. Over the years she has been a choir member, soloist and Conductor of The Capital City Minstrels.
Her creativity has spilled into several mediums including paper, fabric, food and hospitality. Sharmila has enjoyed counselling young adults and married couples, with her husband, and has lived in the US, Japan and India with her family who share her love for people, travel, languages and culture.
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Capital City Minstrels
The Capital City Minstrels comprises people of all ages and nationalities and from all walks of life – students, musicians, doctors, lawyers, architects, teachers, development professionals, corporate executives, diplomats and more. Set up in 1994 in New Delhi, the choir will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, in 2019. Over this time, CCM has performed more than 300 concerts at prestigious venues around Delhi, various destinations in India and Europe, entertaining audiences with a wide repertoire - from the earliest choral music to the entire spectrum of western classical music; opera, ballads, folk songs, Broadway tunes, rock, pop, jazz, as well as choral arrangements of Indian music. The choir has performed at Embassies, prominent concert halls and auditoriums, cathedrals, historic monuments and at Government of India events, including performances for the President of India. CCM has collaborated with international choirs like Le Beau Soleil from Switzerland, the Mixed Voices from Germany, the Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415. The choir has done three European tours, the most recent in June 2018 in Edinburgh, Belfast and London.