The Tapestry Singers, under the direction of Beth Preston and accompanied by Sean Fleming, will perform holiday concerts that include classic and current selections of seasonal music on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 18 at 4 p.m. Both concerts will be at the Second Congregational Church, 51 Main Street in Newcastle. 

The "Woven In Song" concert will feature newly arranged carols with a Celtic twist featuring fiddler, Julia Plumb. Julia is a singer, fiddler, banjo player whose music is rooted in the music traditions of New England, Quebec, Ireland, Appalachia, Scotland, Brittany, and Scandinavia. She divides her time into many musical projects, including teaching, composition, instrument repair, and performance, mostly with Baron Collins-Hill in their duo Velocipede. Julia gives group and private lessons in Belfast and teaches at Maine Fiddle Camp in Montville and The Acadia School of Traditional Music & Arts in Bar Harbor.

Tapestry Singers concerts always include a range of musical selections that offer something for everybody, from classical to more modern choral music. The familiar arrangements of John Jacob Niles and Alfred Burt will be contrasted with a wonderful newer work scored for choir and crystal goblets entitled, “Stars,” by Eriks Esenvalds. Its text is adapted from the poem "Stars" by Sara Teasdale which captures the awe of being alone at night on a dark hill observing heaven's dome of stars, "white and topaz and misty red."

Other instrumentalists on the program are Marcus Hutchins, woodwinds, and Carol Preston, violin.

"We hope the musical selections will flow seamlessly to create an atmosphere that fill our audiences with the same joy with which we prepared it.  The concert repertoire is chosen to both warm and challenge our sensibilities. We are truly 'Woven In Song'," says director Beth Preston.

Tickets are $15 available at the door or online at tapestrysingersmaine.org/tickets. Students are admitted free of charge.