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Boys Choir of Harlem unwraps Christmas
It is nearly a cliché to exalt the life-saving qualities music affords young black children. But 34 years ago when BOYS CHOIR OF HARLEM (BCH) founder Walter Turnbull called for a choir rehearsal in the basement of Ephesus Church, surely he envisioned music as a way up and out for Harlem's babies. Twenty boys showed up to sing Turnbull's dream into reality.
All these years later, BCH is firmly and rightfully ensconced in the canon of the thousand-year-old tradition of the boy choir. It's also entered the lexicon of our language. Check your dictionary for BCH and find it synonymous with urban elegance, resilience, diligence, Striver's Row, international acclaim and higher learning.
BCH now comprises an artistic and educational arm encompassing the Girls Choir of Harlem and the Choir Academy of Harlem, an alternative, college-prep public school with an enrollment of 600-plus students.
Think Boys Choir of Harlem and conjure red-robed, white-collared and falsetto-voiced black boys backing such disparate icons as Classical divas Luciano Pavarotti, Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, R&B stalwarts Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson and master composer of the modern stage Stephen Sondheim. We've seen them everywhere from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to the White House and the United Nations. They've welcomed South African President Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II.
Lucky us.
The Cincinnati Arts Association brings the BCH to the Aronoff's Procter & Gamble Hall Dec. 11 at 7:30 for the group's trademark holiday program. Expect to be floored by selections from Messiah, Gloria, traditional spirituals, Gospel chestnuts and secular Christmas favorites.
The Boys Choir of Harlem: The gift that keeps giving. 513-241-SHOW. (See Holiday.) -- KATHY Y. WILSON
Friday 06
LINDA SCHWARTZ GALLERY's third annual group exhibition, Small Works III: Red, has you seeing red, so to speak. A score of contemporary artists present shrunken works no more than 20 by 20 by 20 inches, a perfect size to wrap up and take home to your holiday ho-ho honey. Stewart Goldman has "belittled" selections of a painting from High See Air AH, while Kevin T. Kelly pops up with sights of scarlet shoes that would put Dorothy to shame. Mick O'Shea previews Tilter, part of the hyperbolic installation Field and Force soon to open at the Roger Smith Gallery in New York, a red-and-white camouflage scale model of a missile launcher in a domestic setting. Mark Fox scares arachnophobes with "Spiders from Zet," a video project on the infestation of his studio in Prague. 513-241-4202. (See Art.) -- LIBERTY WAMPLER
Local heroes OVER THE RHINE once again host their popular holiday concert at the Taft Theatre. This year's show is part of a tour that will take the band throughout the Northeast and East Coast. The group is asking fans to bring items -- toiletries, diapers, combs and brushes, detergent, paper towels, etc. -- to be donated to the local YWCA Battered Women's Shelter (more info at overtherhine.com). The band has also announced that the Taft show will be filmed for possible inclusion in an upcoming DVD project. Their holiday concerts are always soulfully special and transcendent and, with OTR on the road so much lately, it's a good chance to see them at home in an amazing setting. Continuing their tradition of having a good friend on the bill, former Vigilantes of Love frontman Bill Mallonee opens the show. 513-562-4949. (See Music.) -- MIKE BREEN
Saturday 07
Typically when things start burning in Over-the-Rhine we get a bit nervous. But the glow around Washington Park Saturday night will be one that should make us all believe in peace on earth and other good things. It's the second time for a new Over-the-Rhine holiday tradition, LUMINARIA: HARMONY OF LIGHT. The streets will be lined with candles, the trees in the park will be illuminated, and there will be choirs, hot chocolate, cider and more. The organizers are working to bring together people of all ethnic backgrounds to strengthen the community, and we say amen (and ho-ho-ho) to that. 5-7 p.m. Saturday. 513-723-0292. (See Holiday.) -- RICK PENDER
Sunday 08
Yeah, antique markets are for blue-wigged women and middle-aged couples who are out the door at 6 a.m. every Saturday to get the early-bird scope at local estate and yard sales, right? Not so fast. The Second Sunday Antiques Marketplace's HOLIDAY ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES SHOW, at Newport on the Levee, offers much more than lighters that look like guns or crusty old Beanie Babies. The Marketplace consists of a small group of vendors selling one-of-a-kind items like Japanese glass, Kentucky Derby collectibles, beer, vintage clothes and accessories from the 1950s and earlier and Rookwood and Roseville pottery. The best part is they don't allow vendors any crafts, flea market or new items. You just might never want to go back to a mall again. 859-341-3390. (See Holiday.) -- JESSICA TURNER
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Previously in To Do List
Terminal Velocity Cincinnati Museum Center chugs along with its annual holiday train display
(November 27, 2002)
To Do List The week in public spaces, omega bombs, sensory intensive shindigs and Jazz/Rock Fusion
(November 21, 2002)
To Do List The Week in Pop noir, authentic tangos, underground images and preseason accolades
(November 14, 2002)
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