The Choral Excellence Series has joined legendary choral conductor and arranger Robert De Cormier to produce a A Counterpoint Christmas -- a fanciful journey around the world during the holiday season. Selections include familiar and less-familiar melodies and carols from around the world ending with the splendid suite of Argentinean Carols, Navidad Nuestra, by Ariel Ramirez. This beautifully-produced DVD will put you in the spirit of the season while presenting a unique collection of exciting Christmas music. If you are looking for something new this holiday season, a Counterpoint Christmas will be a great selection. If you are a teacher needing an activity for a substitute to use, this is a worthwhile way for your singers to spend a class period!

The Choral Excellence Series has joined legendary choral conductor and arranger Robert De Cormier to produce a A Choral Excursion, featuring his professional vocal ensemble Counterpoint and instrumentalists from across the United States and South America. They will be a wonderful inspiration for your ensembles and great entertainment for anyone who loves choral music. The program is made up of Twentieth Century music from around the world. If you are a teacher needing an activity for a substitute to use, this is a worthwhile way for your singers to spend a class period!

The Choral Excellence Series has joined legendary choral conductor and arranger Robert De Cormier to produce a A Counterpoint Christmas -- a fanciful journey around the world during the holiday season. Selections include familiar and less-familiar melodies and carols from around the world ending with the splendid suite of Argentinean Carols, Navidad Nuestra, by Ariel Ramirez. This beautifully-produced CD will put you in the spirit of the season while presenting a unique collection of exciting Christmas music. If you are looking for something new this holiday season, a Counterpoint Christmas will be a great selection.

This recording brings together a variety of choral works by 20th century Latin American composers, all of whom find inspiration in folk culture. Chief among the composers represented here is Ariel Ramirez. Born in Santa Fe, Argentina, he roamed the South American hinterland in his early twenties playing piano and studying regional musical traditions. After a brief stint in Buenos Aires, he spent several years in Europe, studying in Madrid and Vienna and teaching music in a German convent. Returning to South America in 1954, he completed his musical training in Buenos Aires, where his politically engaged popular songs rapidly earned him renown as a leader of the nueva cancion movement. His breakthrough onto the international stage came in 1967 with the first performance and recording of the Misa Criolla (Mass in Native Style). The success of this innovative work owes much to its timing. Set in Spanish rather than Latin, it was one of the first major masses composed after the Second Vatican Council mandated the use of the vernacular. It also profited from the period's burgeoning interest in folk music. As a result, the work quickly captured the imagination of audiences worldwide and has received thousands of performances. The mass's reception abroad, where its style was perceived as novel and exotic, actually helped stimulate appreciation for native culture among more skeptical audiences back in Argentina. Like all Ramirez' major works, the Misa Criolla draws substantially on the folk traditions in which he immersed himself as a young man. There are complete English texts for all the works included in the program booklet.

Here they present their latest album that brings together new arrangements, ranging from traditional to contemporary, of some of the best known and loved Israeli folk-songs. Unlike European folk-songs, whose origins tend to be vague and lost in the past, most of these songs originated in the 20th century and have known composers and poets. Yet they are folk music just the same, for they live now in the oral tradition. Several generations of Jews have grown up singing them, and some songs, such as Tsena Tsena, Shalom Chaverim and, of course, Hava Nagila, have achieved mainstream recognition. The purpose of Israeli folk-songs was to inspire a new national cultural identity through which, in the words of Hinei Ma Tov, Jewish brothers and sisters from many lands would dwell together in unity. Among many Jews and Israelis throughout the world the songs evoke sentiments of pride and belonging. And despite the inner conflicts between Israelis today and the violent conflicts with its neighbors, the message of this disc is the sincere hope that the entire region may someday achieve unity and peace.