Sailing Home: A Celtic Solstice Celebration
On December 4th of 2022, after a 5-year hiatus and at the suggestion of SOM Interim Director Andrew Stetson, the TTU Vernacular Music Center again hosted a seasonal celebration gala concert focusing around both the music of the Celtic nations and the community of singers, players, readers, designers, and audiences built up over the 18 year history of the Caprock Celtic Christmas. The show has always been simultaneously a fundraiser for the VMC scholarship, awarded annually to a student showing exceptional promise and dedication in the study and performance of the world's vernacular folk musics and dance, and also a celebration of community across the South Plains and beyond. Over the years hundreds of students and dozens of guest performers have come together, for one night only, to play, sing, dance, and celebrate the season.
In the wake of COVID-19, and the challenges and losses that so many in our community have experienced, we felt it was essential that we discover a theme of healing, recovery, and joy. That task was made more challenging by the huge gap left by the passing of our beloved fir an ti or “Man of the House” Dr Tom McGovern (TTUHSC), who for over a decade served as the master of ceremonies and emotional linchpin of the Celtic Christmas. A wonderful eloquent speaker, a superlative improviser, and a kind and gentle counselor to all, Tom and his contribution to the Celtic Christmas were, we realized, completely irreplaceable.
And so we made the decision to seek our audiences’ assistance in lifting up the community to celebratie Tom and all those who have gone before. The house band of the TTU Celtic ensemble, a/k/a the Elegant Savages Orchestra, were joined by a cast of old and new friends, including readers Clint Barrick (KTTZ), Bill Gelber (TTU Theatre & Dance), Angela Mariani and Rob DeVet (TTU Music), Ron Milam (TTU History); the Caprock English Bagpipe Consort, led by Dr Roger Landes (TTU Music); musical luminaries, TTU alumni, and long-time VMC friends Zoë Cloutier and Jerry Serrano; Flatlands Dance Theatre company member Kris Olson and her children’s dance troupe Coyote Morris; TTU University Symphony Conductor Lanfranco Marceletti, who made a (masked, surprise) appearance as the comic wildwood spirit The Green Man, and long-time VMC colleagues and Taos-based musicians Chipper Thompson and Kim Treiber-Thompson. The performance was opened by SOM voice faculty Eric Stoklossa, who gave a magnificent, heartfelt rendition of the traditional unaccompanied song “Carrickfergus.” The production was ably supported by the staff of the Buddy Holly Hall Crickets Theatre, stage manager Dolf Guardiola of South Plains College, and our friends at Moonlight Musicals.
One patron later wrote: “I’m sitting in the Celtic Christmas show, waiting for my daughter to dance, and tears are pouring down my face. I’m so grateful."
In the wake of COVID-19, and the challenges and losses that so many in our community have experienced, we felt it was essential that we discover a theme of healing, recovery, and joy. That task was made more challenging by the huge gap left by the passing of our beloved fir an ti or “Man of the House” Dr Tom McGovern (TTUHSC), who for over a decade served as the master of ceremonies and emotional linchpin of the Celtic Christmas. A wonderful eloquent speaker, a superlative improviser, and a kind and gentle counselor to all, Tom and his contribution to the Celtic Christmas were, we realized, completely irreplaceable.
And so we made the decision to seek our audiences’ assistance in lifting up the community to celebratie Tom and all those who have gone before. The house band of the TTU Celtic ensemble, a/k/a the Elegant Savages Orchestra, were joined by a cast of old and new friends, including readers Clint Barrick (KTTZ), Bill Gelber (TTU Theatre & Dance), Angela Mariani and Rob DeVet (TTU Music), Ron Milam (TTU History); the Caprock English Bagpipe Consort, led by Dr Roger Landes (TTU Music); musical luminaries, TTU alumni, and long-time VMC friends Zoë Cloutier and Jerry Serrano; Flatlands Dance Theatre company member Kris Olson and her children’s dance troupe Coyote Morris; TTU University Symphony Conductor Lanfranco Marceletti, who made a (masked, surprise) appearance as the comic wildwood spirit The Green Man, and long-time VMC colleagues and Taos-based musicians Chipper Thompson and Kim Treiber-Thompson. The performance was opened by SOM voice faculty Eric Stoklossa, who gave a magnificent, heartfelt rendition of the traditional unaccompanied song “Carrickfergus.” The production was ably supported by the staff of the Buddy Holly Hall Crickets Theatre, stage manager Dolf Guardiola of South Plains College, and our friends at Moonlight Musicals.
One patron later wrote: “I’m sitting in the Celtic Christmas show, waiting for my daughter to dance, and tears are pouring down my face. I’m so grateful."
Photos by Heather Beltz
