Celebrate the Holidays with Ars Choralis! It’s a Wonderful Life, Reimagined
WOODSTOCK – The award-winning chorus, Ars Choralis,
known for its innovative programming, begins its 2019-20 season with a reimagined version of
the time-honored holiday movie classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Directed by Barbara Pickhardt,
the chorus will team with pianist Kristen Tuttman, the Ain’t Misbehavin’ Band led by Bob
Shaut, Jim Metzner, Jim Moore, and the Ellenville Elementary Select Chorus to create a 1940sera multi-media event with music, spoken word, clips from the film and other visuals.
Fun for the whole family, the audience follows a despondent George as his guardian angel,
Clarence, leads him through his life as it was and what might have been, if he had never been
born. At the end, George recognizes that everyone is important and that he matters to
everyone around him. As Clarence says, “No man is a failure who has friends.” Ms. Pickhardt
adds “…it’s such an important message in these times that we come together as a community.”
Told through song and narration, the 1940’s are brought to life with the sounds of a Jazz combo
with tunes like Benny Goodman’s “Slipped Disk” and Louis Armstrong’s “Struttin With Some
Barbecue,” a Barbershop Quartet and the sounds of the Ellenville Elementary Select Chorus
What: It’s a Wonderful Life, Reimagined
Who: Ars Choralis & Friends
When/Where:
December 7, 2019 at 7 p.m. Redeemer Lutheran Church, 104 Wurts Street, Kingston
December 8, 2019 at 4 p.m. Overlook Methodist Church, 233 Tinker Street, Woodstock
Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 at the door; $10 Students
For more information and tickets, visit ArsChoralis.org
singing songs of the Holidays. This program is based on the 1939 short story “The Greatest Gift”
by Philip Van Doren Stern and the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” by Frank Capra. Produced by
special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois.
About Ars Choralis
Ars Choralis celebrates its 55th year this season as a non-profit chorus dedicated to celebrating
the human spirit through the performance of choral music of all periods and styles. We believe
music has the power to transcend all barriers of language, culture, race, class, and emotion to
unite people in a world of increasing factionalism and violence. Ars Choralis seeks to inspire,
encourage, heal, uplift, and further the cause of world peace. The chorus is known for
innovative programming, weaving together choral music and the spoken word into an artistic
expression of its own.
Drawing its membership from throughout the Hudson River Valley, Ars Choralis reflects the
area’s diverse artistic community, including professional musicians, writers, teachers, lawyers,
nurses, builders, students, clergy, gardeners, editors, etc. Though diverse in their professions
and backgrounds, members share a common joy of singing, and a deep spirituality that imbues
every performance with a special quality.
Since igniting the musical life of the Woodstock, NY arts community with its first concert on
June 12, 1965, the chorus is known for innovative programming, weaving together choral music
and the spoken word into an artistic expression of its own. Presenting a three-concert season,
often in collaboration with area orchestras, chamber ensembles, dance and theater groups, Ars
Choralis performs the world’s finest choral music, from renowned masterworks to choral
chamber music of all genres as well as new commissions and premieres. For more information,
visit ArsChoralis.org.
For more information about Ars Choralis, please visit arschoralis.org
Facebook.com/arschoralis @arschoralis
For more information about this concert, or for interviews, please contact:
Barbara Pickhardt, (845.679.8172) bpickhardt@gmail.com
Barbara S. Schamest, (917.670.9336), barb771@aol.com
