Chorus singing praises of a new arts center

A chorus looking to grow and lift its voice in the region's cultural life will get a boost from a new performing arts center at this weekend's holiday concert.

Celebrating its 85th year, the Braintree Choral Society will perform for the first time in Thayer Academy's new Center for the Arts, a 540-seat auditorium that opened two months ago.

Titled "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow," the regional chorus's holiday concert takes place Sunday afternoon in the new auditorium.

The chorus has been performing in area churches. While old wooden buildings have good acoustics, the singers say a true performance auditorium is a better facility, with more stage room, space for an orchestra, and comfortable seats.

Chorus director Danica A. Buckley said a connection with a new performance space will help her non-audition chorus take a step up musically. "We are certainly looking to grow," Buckley said. "We have a lot of talent. This will help to promote us and really help the chorus to take a new turn and become more well known."

The impressive new hall will help attract a larger Boston-area audience, Buckley said. Including an art gallery and studio space for all the school's art programs, Thayer's 37,000- square-foot Center for the Arts cost $17 million and took 18 months to build. Built to serve an arts program in which 90 percent of the private secondary school's students take part - including four choruses, seven jazz ensembles, and six theatrical productions a year - the facility was also planned with an eye to serve the South Shore and the town of Braintree's cultural life. School officials said Thayer will benefit from the array of artists and events such as orchestral and choral concerts brought to the campus.

Thayer approached the Braintree Choral Society last summer, chorus president Carol Zarenski of Abington said last week, and proposed the group perform its concerts there. The benefits of aligning with the school include advertisement of the choral society's concerts on the school's website and publicity, Zarenski said. In return the chorus provides some complimentary concerts tickets to the school.

Sunday's concert will feature three excerpts from a major classical choral work, Mendelssohn's "St. Paul" oratorio, which the Braintree chorus will perform in its entirety at Thayer in its spring concert.

The program also includes popular seasonal songs, well-known Christmas music, the Hanukkah song "Light One Candle," and a sing-along of popular carols led by Buckley - an operation that involves some prompting, a sense of humor, and a little teaching. She plans to teach the audience the refrain on "Light One Candle," a song written by Peter Yarrow that's become a seasonal favorite.

The Braintree Choral Society will also serve as the choir for a service of lessons and carols at South Congregational Church in Braintree on Dec. 21.

Next spring it will be back in the Thayer Academy auditorium for a full performance of the "St. Paul" oratorio on May 30.

Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.