S. Bennerstrom, Lemon Sky
Saturday, November 16, 2024, 3:00 PM
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
2117 Walnut Street, Bellingham 98225
Whatcom Chorale, Harp,
Guitar and Marimba
Promised Light
Immerse your senses in the rich and mysterious tonalities of Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols as Whatcom Chorale celebrates the joyful wonder of Christmas. This soulful performance concludes with Conrad Susa’s Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest, an ardent Latin American homage to the Nativity. Experience a rare collaboration of harp, guitar, and marimba, featuring harpist Jill Whitman, guitarist Eli Schille-Hudson, and marimbist Kay Reilly.
Program
Benjamin Britten, Ceremony of Carols
John Rutter, “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day”
Conrad Susa, Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest
Conrad Susa, “Fum, Fum, Fum”
Guest Artists
Jill Whitman, Harp
Jill Whitman has taught at Western Washington University since 1997 and has had a prosperous harp career since then. She received bachelor’s degrees in both German and harp from the University of Washington, and a master’s degree in music from WWU. She has performed with many ensembles such as the Seattle Symphony and Opera, Spokane Symphony, and the American Sinfonietta. She currently serves as principal harpist for the Whatcom and Yakima Symphonies, and is the founding member and arranger for the NOEL ensemble, a Celtic/Classic group featuring strings, flute, percussion, harps, and poetry.
Eli Schille-Hudson, Guitar
Eli Schille-Hudson is a guitarist based in Bellingham, Washington where he heads the guitar studio at Western Washington University. At Western, Eli teaches courses in music theory, guitar history, pedagogy, and fretboard harmony; he also teaches applied lessons and conducts and arranges for the WWU Guitar Ensemble.
Eli has appeared as a recitalist for the Northwest Guitar Festival (and served as the Festival Director for the 2023 Northwest Guitar Festival), the Seattle Classic Guitar Society, the Bellingham Music Club, the Bellingham Chamber Music Society, the Bellingham Festival of Music, the Great Spaces Concert Series, and the Lafayette Symphony Guild. A duo performance with bassist DaXun Zhang at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention is a recent highlight in Eli’s activities as a chamber musician. He has adjudicated competitions and given masterclasses for Performing Arts B.C. and the Northwest Guitar Festival.
In addition to his work as a teacher and performer, Eli also remains active as a composer and songwriter. His debut release with collaborator Ross Martinie Eiler, Signs & Seasons (2022), can be heard wherever music is streamed. He completed his education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he took Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under Maestro Ernesto Bitetti.
Kay Reilly, Marimba
Kay Reilly, marimbas and percussionist, has played with Whatcom Chorale on many occasions in the past. She is the band director at Squalicum High School (also since 2006) and is a National Board Certified Teacher. Before moving to Bellingham, Kay taught in Issaquah, WA and at the Hong Kong International School. Kay earned her Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance and Music Education from Northwestern University in Illinois, where she studied with Michael Burritt and James Ross, and won the school's annual concerto competition her senior year. She earned her Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the Ohio State University, where she studied with Susan Powell and Joe Krygier, and won first place in the Women in Music Columbus competition. When not teaching or playing music, Kay loves playing yard-baseball and driveway-badminton with her son, walking on trails, working in her garden, cooking and baking, and playing many a game of Skip-Bo or Phase 10. She is also a lifelong Star Trek fan, though she is year of the Earth Sheep and prefers to keep her feet on the ground.