Dominick D’Orio will conduct the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia in its annual Christmas concert, “A Feast Carols,” Saturday, Dec. 7, at 2 and 5 p.m. The concert will take place in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill.

A highlight of the concert will be the premiere of “The Anonymous Child.” It was a commission by Mendelssohn Chorus to composer Michael R. Smith and poet Kyle Conner. The work “explores the universal themes of childhood potential and parental love through a powerful dialogue between a mother, her child, and the Earth itself.” Smith is a former tenor section leader with Mendelssohn Chorus and poet Conner is a current tenor with the choir. Andrew Kotylo, the parish’s organist and director of music, will accompany on the church’s newly restored Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ.

For more ticket information visit mcchorus.org.

Choral Arts Philadelphia

Chestnut Hill conductor, Donald Meineke, will conduct Choral Arts Philadelphia in two concerts celebrating the Christmas and New Year holidays. “Carols by Candle Light” is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7, at 4 p.m. The program will feature both traditional and contemporary Christmas carols and holiday music.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental “Mass in B minor” will welcome in the New Year Thursday, Dec. 31, also at 4 p.m. Both concerts will be performed in the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia.

For ticket information visit ChoralArtsPhila.org.

Historic “Messiah”

When George Frideric Handel composed his most famous work, the oratorio “Messiah,” in 1741 and premiered it in Dublin the following year, Old Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church at 4th and Walnut Streets in colonial Philadelphia’s Society Hill section was already a decade old. It was founded in 1733 by the Jesuit Fathers and has been an ongoing parish in the city ever since.

What a treat, then, to hear the Advent/Christmas Part I of “Messiah” in such a historic setting Sunday, Dec. 8, at 3 p.m. The parish’s music director Mark Bani – a former student of Richard Alexander at St. Paul’s Church and an alumnus of both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School – will conduct. For more information call 215-923-1733 or visit oldstjoseph.org.

AVA’s ‘Faust’

The Academy of Vocal Arts Opera Theater opened its 90th anniversary season with a production of Charles-Francois Gounod’s “Faust” in its intimate Helen Corning Warden Theater in Center City Philadelphia. The production continued through Dec. 3.

I caught the Saturday, Nov. 23, performance. It was conducted by Steven White with stage direction by Chas Rader-Schieber. The set design was by Cameron Anderson, lighting design was by Christopher Ostrom, and Val Starr once again conjured up that old M-G-M magic with her costumes and wigs.

Tenor Angel Raii Gomez sang the title role. His crisp, clear tones, excellent French diction, immaculate pitch, elegant phrasing and impassioned acting enabled him to project Faust’s desperate need to remain young and vibrant, even at the expense of his immortal soul. Bass Raul Velazco’s darkly hued timbre and satanic intensity made him the perfectly seductive demon who easily steers Faust in all the wrong directions.

Soprano Manli Deng was lovely as the guileless Marguerite, who falls for Faust’s superficial charms while unaware of the devil that lurks beneath the surface. And baritone Alex Matthews was a sympathetic Valentin, Marguerite’s hapless brother who fails to save her at the loss of his own life.

The AVA Opera Orchestra played splendidly throughout all three acts, but for my money conductor White showed less and less sensitivity to his young singers as the evening progressed.

For more information call 215-735-1685 or visit avaopera.org.

Chamber Orchestra

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, with its music director at the helm, presented two performances of “David Hayes Conducts Bernstein” in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater Friday and Sunday, Nov, 22 and 24. I caught the Friday evening concert and came away mightily impressed with the superb playing of the strings of the Chamber Orchestra in all three of the program’s scores.

Hayes and the Chamber Orchestra opened the concert with a glowing rendition of Aaron Jay Kernis’ “Musica Celestis,” a work that establishes a halo of heavenly tones that welcomed the listener out of the mundane world and into another beyond the clouds.

Although of a heartier nature, Bela Bartok’s “Divertimento for String Orchestra” in its own way did the same. Bartok’s music catches the spicy flavor of the Hungarian and Romanian folk music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Hayes and his musicians played it for all it’s worth.

Leonard Bernstein’s mildly pretentious “Serenade after Plato’s Symposium” followed the intermission. Jeffrey Brillhart will conduct the Chamber Orchestra in “Brillhart & Baroque” Friday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 19, at 2:30 p.m. in the Perelman Theater. Call 215-545-1739 or visit chamberorchestra.org for more information.

You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net.