There’s room at the Paramount for two holiday audiences

Still shopping for this year’s holiday celebrations? The Oratorio Society of Virginia already is working on next year’s list.

The list in question is for next year’s Christmas selections to share with the community in a concert that is becoming a new local tradition.

“We’ve already started talking about next year’s program,” music director L. Thomas Vining said cheerfully. “We have a repertoire committee.”

Close to 100 local singers will take the stage at the Paramount Theater twice on Saturday for the Oratorio Society’s “Christmas at the Paramount” program. It’s a refreshing bit of news in an anxious economic climate to hear that demand is strong for both performances, and that the singers’ hope for Christmas future is even brighter than Ebenezer Scrooge’s was after his spectral visits.

“Last year, we turned away three hundred people,” Vining said, explaining the need for two concerts this time. “Maybe we’ll do three next year.”

So what’s the secret? Picking an overlooked week to perform seems to strike just the right chord with listeners who don’t have time to sit back and enjoy Christmas music until the big day’s almost here. Once family members arrive from out of town, students head home on college breaks and the shopping’s finally done, it seems as if all the Christmas-themed performances are over.

“What it speaks to is, one, it’s a concert that’s close to Christmas,” Vining said. “The rush is over, and families have a chance to do something together that is Christmas related. Plus, we do a program that suits all tastes.”

Vining said another key consideration is “picking music that everyone can relate to, that everyone will be walking out smiling and glad they were there.”

The location adds its own sprinkle of magic.

“You have all the Christmas lights on the Downtown Mall lit,” Vining said. “There’s close parking. You can have dinner beforehand or afterward. There’s just the spirit of the Downtown Mall.”

The performers aren’t immune, either. Vining said there’s nothing like looking on the Paramount’s sizable marquee and seeing your ensemble’s name there. (The only thing that tops that feeling? Seeing a “sold-out” sign on it, he said.)

This year’s concert combines elements that audiences enjoyed in both previous “Christmas at the Paramount” shows with some fresh new features.

The popular sing-along will be back with “carols that are very familiar to people,” Vining said.

New this year will be handbells, pealing during the processional — which also is new.

“I’ve also worked on the sound of the choir,” Vining said. “You’ll hear a fuller, richer sound this year.”

A Nigerian carol, “Betelehemu,” will feature percussionists I-Jen Fang, Alex Kirst, Michael Koenig, Jason Lankford and Andrew Schmidt. Alto saxophonist Jeff Decker and a string orchestra will join the singers for an old French carol, “Quelle est Cette Odeur Agreable?”

Craig Courtney’s “A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas” will start with a partridge from sixth-century Rome and count its way to 12 drummers drumming from 19th-ecntury America. Along the way, listeners will hear snippets of Strauss, Sousa, Vivaldi and Wagner.

When you unwrap that new 2009 calendar on Thursday, be sure to pencil in March 15, because that’s when the Oratorio Society will present Joseph Haydn’s “The Creation” at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

While it’s too soon to know if next year’s Christmas concert will offer three performances, it’s already expected to feature a new Canadian Brass arrangement of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

And those of us who’ve just gotten used to writing 2008 on checks might be surprised by what’s next on the agenda: The Oratorio Society is working on a program of music by Durufle and Vaughan Williams for a concert in May 2010.

Vining said the group is optimistic enough about the future to be making three- and five-year plans.

“We’ve really grown. We have a tremendous board that really works well together,” Vining said. “Our real goal is to become a part of Charlottesville that makes Charlottesville a better place to live.”