Orange County Women's Chorus Takes a Journey Around the World in Their Upcoming Holiday Concerts
- Ashley Ryan
- Dec 4, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 6
As the group prepares to launch its latest series of concerts, local audiences will be treated to festive melodies from cultures abroad.
Venture to distant lands this holiday season without ever leaving Southern California, as the Orange County Women’s Chorus opens its 27th season with “Three Journeys: Where We’ve Been.”
These travel-themed concerts, held at two different O.C. churches over a single weekend, will take audiences on a musical voyage through Canada as well as several European countries. Inspired by the group’s international tours, the performances will showcase festive tunes that permeate cultures across the globe.
“When my parents traveled to far-off places during my childhood, they always brought home souvenirs, and since they were musicians, those souvenirs often included recordings of the music they’d discovered during their travels,” said Eliza Rubenstein, the choir’s artistic director. “I wanted to do that for our audience, especially since so many of them have been so supportive of our tours – many of them through financial donations that supported tour scholarships for our singers and … (others) through stepping up to handle childcare, pet care or other responsibilities while we were overseas singing.”
Now, the songs they’ve learned elsewhere have made their ways to the shores of California, with the Laguna Hills-based group relating its travels to the future.
Where They’ve Been
Although OCWC has been around since the late 1990s, the singers didn’t travel abroad until 2015, when they took home a prize at a music festival in Llangollen, Wales, and toured popular spots in England. In 2018, they wandered north to Canada and, just this year, the group embarked on a visit to Croatia.
Drawing inspiration from their visits to these four nations, “Three Journeys: Where We’ve Been” showcases musical pieces that feature cultural instruments and specialized vocals to evoke feelings of each destination. The result is an eclectic mix of songs that bring something unique to the stage as we shift into the holiday season.
“Our regular audiences know they can always expect something different and diverse from our concerts, and this one definitely fits that bill,” Rubenstein said. “You aren’t going to hear this assortment of music at any other holiday concert, though you probably will recognize a few favorite tunes here and there.”
Traveling to new places allows the group to not only discover new songs, but also to expand its knowledge and understanding of other cultures and life as a whole. “When we choose to master pieces from other countries, we commit to learning the language of the text as well as the musical and vocal styles and the cultures that influence them, “ said choir member Nancy Burke. “We feel immersed in those places, and we hope our audiences will, too.”
PHOTO 1: Exploring the country as a group allowed for further bonding while learning about a new culture and discovering music to add to the OCWC repertoire. PHOTO 2: Members of the choir explored the capital city of Zagreb during their trip to Croatia. PHOTO 3: OCWC also visited the Plitvice Lakes National Park during its international tour in Croatia.
Photos courtesy of Orange County Women’s Chorus
This summer’s trip to Croatia is at the forefront of the singers’ minds as they prepare for this season opener. “We were able to see Lado, the National Folk Dance Ensemble of Croatia, perform. We were all captivated by their incredible dancing and resonant, powerful voices,” said Stephanie Wright, who joined the choir in 2017. “It is so much fun to now get a chance to share some of the songs Lado introduced us to with our audiences. I do feel that our time in Croatia and our preparation of our previous Croatian repertoire has really helped us hone the nuances of the language and sonic delivery.”
Wright said one of her favorite pieces highlighted in the upcoming show is Kathleen Allan’s “The Close and Holy Darkness,” which reminds her of curling up with a book on a snowy evening and the accompanying stillness. “I love the allusion to ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ throughout the piece and how it has different chapters that unfold yet seamlessly marry together,” she added.
The song is a favorite for another choir member, Janelle Forney, as well. “It’s incredibly comforting and intimate and velvety, like the feeling of putting on a warm blanket or sipping tea when you didn’t realize you were cold until that very moment. It’s the magic of singing life into a gentle story that ends perfectly, like closing the lid on a very well made box,” she said.
In addition, the show will end with a surprise performance that has become a crowd favorite since the chorus performed it during its Carnegie Hall debut in New York City in 2022. This special treat, paired with international inspiration, reveals an important aspect of the spirit of the season – connection.
“Making music with and for new friends around the globe is the most efficient way I know to create new friendships and understandings,” Rubenstein said. “I’ve been fortunate to do a fair amount of overseas travel in my life, but the trips that have made me feel most connected to the full spectrum of humanity have always been the choir tours.”
Who They Are
The evolution of the choir from a small group to an ensemble of more than 60 members is truly remarkable, and Rubenstein has remained at the helm for more than 20 years now.
“Orange County is so lucky to be home to an incredible array of musical organizations, and what makes us distinctive among that group is that we’re all women and our singers are all volunteers,” she said. “Not only does that make our repertoire different from everyone else’s, but there’s something uniquely beautiful – especially in today’s societal climate – about women banding together to raise … our voices.”
Mary Watson-Bruce, a founding member of the chorus, has been performing with the group since 1997 and has noticed a shift in local culture during her time with OCWC. “At one time, Orange County music culture was basically European settler, Mexican settler and marginalized Native American. But that is no longer descriptive of this place,” she said. “Participating in the musical arts that represent all of us, from the ubiquitous melodies and rhythms of the African diaspora that are so fundamental to American culture to more recently garnered tonalities of various areas in Asia, added to Latin American, Native American and European cadences, makes us wealthy. Orange County … has an enviable access to music that defines us all and makes us culturally rich.”
Watson-Bruce has been a part of all three of the international tours and is eager to perform “Three Journeys,” as the music brings back memories of the destinations. “I’m certain that I mix my own stereotypes of the places into the nostalgia,” she said. “Of the things I enjoy most about the music is the way the songs are sung, often … (evoking) a feeling of being there.”
Although there is a lot of culture woven into the fabric of this upcoming show, there are still places that didn’t make it in but created lasting memories for the singers. “We saw so much and learned so much on the tours,” Watson-Bruce said. “One culture that is not represented in this performance, but that struck me as so representative of place, was the First Peoples’ culture in southern Canada. Singing and chanting within their meeting places and learning the various hierarchies within that small group of people was mind-expanding.”
Where They’re Going
The “Three Journeys” performances are the first of a series of three concerts that make up the choir’s 27th season. Following a specific theme, the succeeding shows include “Two Roads: Where We’re Going” in March, which Rubenstein said is about the paths we choose to follow as individuals and as a society, and “One World: What We Leave Behind” in late spring, which will touch on our planet and how we can nourish it for future generations.
“This year for the OCWC is about sharing musical memories of the past and singing ourselves into the future,” Rubenstein said.
During the “One World” concert, Sarah Hughes, the group’s assistant director, will take over Rubenstein’s role for a few weeks. “She’s already picked out music for that program that I guarantee our audience will love,” Rubenstein said. This year’s conducting intern, Kirsten Leon, will also play a part in each of the three shows.
After singing in mixed (gender) choirs, Burke, who joined in 2019, was blown away the first time she heard the OCWC and has continued to be impacted by her experiences with the group ever since. “Since joining the chorus and coming to know these women, I have also discovered how strong they are as people,” she said. “It’s an extraordinary group and I am especially struck now by how important it feels to see and hear women raising their voices together with both force and beauty.”
For Forney, who became a part of OCWC after the COVID-19 pandemic, the variety that this group showcases stands out. “Something I always enjoy about singing with OCWC is that every piece is programmed for a reason. Each one brings a new element to the concert and no two are the same. I love that this is a group that tackles challenging and unique repertoire as the norm because I never have the chance to be complacent and just coast by. We have to be excellent because the music demands it,” she said. “I believe that everyone should be involved in a creative pursuit of some sort because it connects with part of our humanity that otherwise gets ignored …. Being part of OCWC, I feel proud to help cultivate a culture that says that music is essential and the pursuit of excellence is not just for those in high towers.”
Through it all, the travel theme of the opening performance ties perfectly to the “One World” concert that will wrap the season up, revealing the importance of love, compassion and connection no matter where you are located.
“Travel and art make the world bigger and smaller at the same time,” Rubenstein said. “We discover how much more there is on this planet than we realize in our daily lives, but also how much more we have in common with people thousands of miles away than we might guess.”
‘Three Journeys: Where We’ve Been’
When: 7 p.m. Dec. 7, and 3 p.m. Dec. 8
Where: Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church in Newport Beach (Dec. 7), and St. Wilfrid's Episcopal Church in Huntington Beach (Dec. 8)
Cost: Tickets are $35 adults, $30 seniors and $15 students (plus online fees)
Contact: ocwomenschorus.org
Classical music coverage at Culture OC is supported in part by a grant from the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Culture OC makes all editorial decisions.
