Man About Canton: Canton Choral Society concert another winner
By Canton CitizenDID YOU KNOW…
The Canton Choral Society performed its annual Sunday afternoon holiday concert on December 13 for 200 appreciative music lovers in the Canton High School auditorium. And as usual, it was worth more than the price of admission. As was the case last year, the first half of this year’s two-hour program was dedicated to performing ambitious selections from Handel’s immortal Messiah. This year’s proagram, however, differed with the addition of four talented professional soloists who obviously had experience in singing some of Handel’s difficult pieces and arias and lent a nice professional touch to the overall presentation. The four experienced and widely traveled soloists were tenor John M. Sullivan, bass Ronald Williams, alto Amanda Kiel, and mezzo-soprano Aliana De La Guardia. All four handled their individual solos with confidence, strength, feeling and obvious familiarity that clearly impressed the audience. The difficult Messiah portion of the program was ably accompanied by a six-piece orchestra consisting of two violins, a cello, a viola, a piano, and a trumpeter/percussionist; and they also did a great job handling Handel’s sometimes difficult music.
After a short intermission, the chorus began the second half of the program by singing several selections of traditional holiday music, which they performed with aplomb, and their integrated harmony was very pleasing to listen to. The program ended with the customary sing-a-long where the audience had the chance to join the chorus in singing several popular Christmas carols.
MAC would be remiss if he didn’t single out Music Director Anne Tripp Miller, who conducted the entire program. As usual, Ms. Miller did an outstanding job. MAC gives this concert an A and recommends you make it a point to attend future Choral Society concerts.
It looks like there may be as many as five questions on the 2010 statewide ballot. One proposes to roll back the state sales tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent. Another would repeal the recent extension of the sales tax to include alcohol, while a third question would lift the cap on charter schools from its current 120. The other questions deal with carbon dioxide emissions and comprehensive permits.
According to the new reports, 33 is the median age of people on Face book, and 31 is the median age of those using Twitter.
The Town of Stoughton has a search committee reviewing about 50 applications for the chief of police position. The committee will choose five finalists to be interviewed by the Board of Selectmen, and the Stoughton town manager says the selection process could take several months. Additionally, Stoughton’s collector/treasurer Thomas Rorrie has been appointed acting town manager, replacing Mark Stankiewicz who has taken the town manager job in Plymouth.
Just when you thought you had seen just about everything, the Boston Red Sox surprised us by installing a large ice-skating rink at Fenway Park for a Boston Bruins game and for other Boston skaters. However, it doesn’t surprise us that it didn’t take long for some opportunists to reportedly scalp tickets for as much as $1,800. Incidentally, the Fenway Park rink is available for corporate and group rentals, with prices ranging between $3,000 and $10,000 per hour to help defray the rink’s $25,000 daily costs.
The U.S. Census Bureau plans to begin hiring hundreds of part-time temporary employees in January for its massive 2010 population count in the spring. An additional 15,000 to 20,000 people will be hired in April to canvas area towns and neighborhoods, knocking on doors of residents who don’t mail back census questionnaires. The jobs will last from four to eight weeks, and pay $16 an hour. The Bureau is now taking applications for all jobs, and if you are a U.S. citizen and interested, call 866-861-2010 and you will be scheduled to take an employment test.
The Nationwide Christmas Tree Association estimates that approximately 25 million Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. each year; and according to the U.S. Commerce Department, 80 percent of all artificial trees worldwide are manufactured in China.
The financially troubled Westgate Mall in Brockton was recently auctioned off and will remain with the present lender for the existing $51 million left on its mortgage when bidders failed to bid more than $20 million.
Finally, the 2009 final attendance records for the Massachusetts House of Representatives revealed that Canton Representative Bill Galvin missed only nine roll-call votes for an excellent yearlong attendance record of 96.7 percent.
Life is a steep grade, and we should welcome every opportunity to give our friends a lift when they need it.
This is all for now folks; see you next week.
Joe DeFelice can be reached at
manaboutcanton@aol.com
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=850
Posted by Canton Citizen
on Jan 7 2010. Filed under Man About Canton, Opinion.
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