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