Enjoy Musical Magic with New Jersey’s finest choruses

(MORRISTOWN, NJ) — Ring in the holidays with seasonal music from some of New Jersey’s top choral arts organizations beginning with The Somerset Hills Chorus conducted by Stephen Sands on Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 5:00pm at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown. The program will feature a selection of Christmas music featuring Francis Poulenc’s Gloria with organ, brass and soprano soloist, Kristin Sands. The program also features the popular sing-along carols and a show stopping finale arranged by Ryan Brandau. For tickets and more information, go to www.musicsh.org.

Following The Somerset Hills Chorus will be Morris Choral Society in a program entitled Home for the Holidays: Winters’ Many Moods at 3:00pm on Sunday, December 14 in Morristown’s Methodist Church on the Green. Music Director Michael Wittenburg conducts the chorus in a potpourri of carols from around the world, featuring works by Dave Brubeck, Robert Shaw, Handel, Rachmaninov, David Lance, Betty Bertaux and others. The program also features the women’s treble ensemble, High Society, the men’s group, Express Male, and special guests. The concert will also include the popular singalong. For more information, visit www.morrischoralsociety.org or call 973-723-6424.

Also that weekend, Harmonium Choral Society, a 100-voice chorus led by Dr. Anne Matlack, will perform at The Presbyterian Church in Morristown on Saturday, December 13 at 7:30pm & Sunday, December 14 at 3:00pm. The concert theme, Season of Blessings, is set by Peter de Mets’ Blessings, a work expressing gratitude with reverence. The piece gently invites the audience into a reflective space where music becomes a meditation on thanksgiving. The concert includes Renaissance polyphony, contemporary premieres, bluegrass harmonies, and chamber orchestra. The program will feature the East Coast premiere of Prayer to the Shechiniah by Andrea Clearfield and Václav Nelhỳbel’s Estampie Natalis. There will also be works by Palestrina, Bach, Nunes Garcia, Carol Barnett, Alice Parker and Craig Courtney’s hilarious Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas. Harmonium will also perform at First Night Morris on December 31 at 7:30pm & 8:30pm. For more information on all of their performances, go to www.harmonium.org.

On Sunday, December 21 at 3:00pm at the Concert Hall at Drew University, The Masterwork Chorus, under the baton of Music Director Martin Sedek, rings in the holidays with the Handel Messiah with full orchestra and soloists. It is one of the few complete presentations of this iconic work in New Jersey and you are invited to experience the power of a full orchestra, four acclaimed soloists and the chorus on one stage. Those patrons in the Golden Circle will join everyone for a pre-concert champagne reception. For tickets go to www.masterwork.org.

To learn more about “Welcome the Holidays with Song” and to get tickets from one location, visit www.musicsh.org/sing-in-the-season-2025. Get your tickets today!

The Somerset Hills Chorus (SHC) was developed to help all those who love to sing become better musicians in a supportive yet challenging environment. Open to anyone aged 14 and up, with or without experience, the model enables local amateur singers to perform extraordinary repertoire in fine venues within and around the Somerset Hills region of New Jersey. Since its founding in 2010, the SHC has given a number of concerts under the artistic direction of Stephen Sands.

The Morris Choral Society has two purposes: to make available to all Morris area residents varied choral music programs and to give residents an opportunity to perform in a choral organization. New members are accepted twice a year by audition, in September and in January.

Funding for the Morris Choral Society, the Harmonium Choral Society and the Masterwork Chorus has been made possible in part by Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Both Harmonium and Masterwork also receive funding from the New Jersey Cultural Trust. Music in the Somerset Hills is supported in part by the Somerset County Cultural & Heritage Commission.