Phoenix group's Christmas album earns raves for its sense of place: 'It's got that glow'

To Christopher Gabbitas, the thought of making a Christmas album as his first recording with Phoenix Chorale since taking the reins from Charles Bruffy as the Grammy-winning ensemble’s artistic director and conductor was “the ideal first port of call.”

The group had yet to make a Christmas record and hadn’t done any recordings in eight years.

But Gabbitas, a former baritone with the British ensemble the King’s Singers who divides his time between a home in England and the U.S., also knew he needed to do something that would make their record stand out from the glut of seasonal releases.

“Every choir out there has a Christmas album,” Gabbitas says.

“And you’re in danger when you approach that repertoire of just regurgitating the same pieces that everybody else does. It would be a very easy thing to do. You could put your name on it. And your friends and family and supporters would buy it and that would be great.”

Phoenix Chorale Christmas album has a sense of place

Gabbitas saw a bigger opportunity.

“We wanted to stamp this sense of place on it by thinking OK, we come from a Southwestern state, we come from a border state, we have this Hispanic influence, we have these mission church influences that have really shaped the sacred a cappella choral music over the last few centuries,” he says.

That’s how Gabbitas arrived at the repertoire the chorale explores on “The Christmas Album,” from Catalan folk songs to Hispanic Renaissance music.

“We looked back to music by Francisco Guerrero,” Gabbitas says. “We looked back to early Catalan folk music and we did arrangements of those. And then we commissioned a new text called 'Noche de Paz' to finish the disc off in this Hispanic tradition, which has shaped so much of what Arizona culture is.”

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British press praises Phoenix Chorale's Hispanic influence

Gabbitas says he’s very pleased to see reviewers picking up on that.

BBC Music Magazine gave it a four-star review.

“The Hispanic influence is strong in Phoenix Chorale’s ‘The Christmas Album,’ the Mexican border being just hours away from the ensemble’s home in Arizona,” the review began.

“The Catalonian folk songs reveal the Chorale’s enviable smoothness and sumptuosity of tone, some of it arguably bought at the expense of spontaneity and vigour…. Best of all is Cecilia McDowall’s Trinity Triptych, a Phoenix commission performed with a winning mixture of enthusiasm and finesse.”

Gramophone also noted “the Hispanic influence that has helped shape this corner of the world — from the Renaissance polyphony of Francisco Guerrero to modern arrangements of Catalonian folk songs.”

The British magazine featured the Phoenix Chorale in a roundup of seasonal albums, praising the “expertly blended, warm chestnuts-roasting-on-an-open-fire sound from the well-drilled ... choir.”

Phoenix Chorale's 'The Christmas Album' also honors Trinity Cathedral

The album also features a commissioned piece celebrating the 2021 centenary of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Phoenix Chorale's home in downtown Phoenix, by Cecilia McDowall titled “Trinity Triptych.”

“The cathedral is a great supporter of what we do,” Gabbitas says. “And as a way of honoring them, we wanted to mark this centenary of what has become a very important building at the heart of the city of Phoenix, not only for people of faith but also during First Friday with the great cultural festival on Roosevelt Row.”

Gabittas says McDowall is “one of the foremost composers of our time, really.”

The piece is part of a commissioning program whose goal is to spend the first decade of Gabittas’ tenure as artistic directing commissioning only works by women.

“It’s important because women have been composing, of course, for centuries, but so often they’ve been overlooked and overshadowed by their male counterparts,” Gabbitas says.

“So this is just our way, in Phoenix, of saying, ‘We’re just really gonna celebrate the wealth of expertise, experience, professionalism and craft that comes within this art form from the women who compose.’ And it’s proved to be a wonderful endeavor.”

How the chorale artistic director's time in the King's Singers shaped 'The Christmas Album'

Several pieces on “The Christmas Album” were originally arranged for the King’s Singers.

“I sang with the King’s Singers for 15 years,” Gabbitas says.

“It was a huge privilege. We were touring the world across six continents and performing in the most iconic venues, from Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall. And part of the rich legacy of the King’s Singers was the sound that we managed to create through having these incredible arrangements written for us by wonderful composers.”

Gabbitas has adapted those arrangements for Phoenix Chorale, a much larger ensemble than the King’s Singers, a six-voice a cappella group.

“Many of the arrangements, I’ve always felt, would work really well expanded to a more lush and rich texture of, in this case, 28 voices,” Gabbitas says. “And I was so happy that we were able to expand them and for new audiences to experience them in a slightly new way.”

Phoenix is a 'really innovative, can-do city'

Gabbitas was appointed artistic director of Phoenix Chorale in May 2019, which he viewed at the time as “a huge gift and wonderful shock.”

He’d gone into the application process thinking it would be a wonderful learning experience without actually believing he would be appointed in the end.

“But the more I went through the process, the more it felt like an amazing fit,” he says. “I loved the singers. I loved the culture of the city. I sort of fell in love with this whole sense of place that Phoenix has. It’s a really innovative, can-do city full of possibility.

"And that I found so inspirational that the more time I spent there with the people, the more I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, this would be the most perfect next chapter in my career, and the sky is the limit to what we can do.”

He sees “The Christmas Album” as a great first step.

“We showed some real promise and energy and we made some good sounds and we’ve had some great reviews and we’re really happy with that,” he says. “But I know that we can refine it even further as we go through to the next series of recordings.”

Gabbitas says another goal he had as a conductor going into the recording was to achieve a warmth of sound.

“Arizona is so climatically warm, certainly much more so than England, I can tell you that,” he says.

“It’s got that glow of the amazing sun and the warmth on the rocks and the warmth of the people. And we think that translates into the sound that we can make. It’s a very giving, welcoming, smiley, warm sound. And I’m delighted that we’ve been able to capture that.”

The Phoenix Chorale presents A Chorale Christmas concerts

The Phoenix Chorale will perform a series of Christmas concerts Dec. 15-18 at assorted Valley venues with guest conductor Jace Kaholokula Saplan, director of choral activities at Arizona State University, stepping in for Gabbitas.

“The reason for that, it’s very personal,” he says.

“It’s that I needed a Christmas, and I wanted a Christmas at home with my family, because as a musician, you’re working every Christmas, and my family has been through an interesting journey in that our youngest daughter just finished cancer treatment. So I’m able to be here in England and not have my Christmas punctuated by ‘Daddy has to fly off and do work.’”

Highlights of the program include holiday favorites such as "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain," classical pieces from Palestrina ("Hodie Christus Natus Est") and Mendelssohn ("Weihnachten"), and contemporary pieces from acclaimed composer Saunder Choi ("Meet Me for Noche Buena") and "The Coventry Carol," arranged by the Phoenix Chorale's Kira Zeeman Rugen.

Here are the details on those concerts:

• 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15: Brophy Chapel, 4701 N. Central Ave., Phoenix.

• 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix.

• 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17: Camelback Bible Church, 3900 E. Stanford, Paradise Valley.

• 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18: Brophy Chapel, 4701 N. Central Ave., Phoenix.

Tickets are $45; $39 for seniors and military members; $23 for ages 15 and younger. For tickets and more information, go to phoenixchorale.org.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X @EdMasley.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why a Christmas album from Arizona is an international hit