Christmas Concert

After service on Sunday we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the yoga studio, featuring some of the best vegetarian chili ever, cornbread with honey-butter, and oodles of tasty holiday desserts. (Thanks to Anandaprem and Kristina for coordinating all that!) Thus fortified with sugar, butter, and other essential nutrients, we headed back into the temple for the choir concert.

The concert was a delightful success, featuring a 30+ person choir, plus performances by smaller ensembles and soloists. Todd and Janice provided lovely piano and harp accompaniment. The music included, of course, many of Swami Kriyananda's songs (from the Oratorio and otherwise), a carol medley, and several classical pieces, finishing off with a rousing rendition of the Hallelujah chorus.

One audience member had recently heard the San Jose Symphony & Choir perform Handel's Messiah, and said that the Ananda choir sounded "just as great." Another fellow mentioned that he was frequently in tears (in a good way!) during the program. From the choir's perspective, we certainly had a fantastic time. And Karen clearly had a blast conducting -- she was practically surfing the energy wave on the last Hallelujah chorus!

If you missed the concert or just want to relive it, you can get videos and MP3s for many of the songs here. (Thanks, Ron!) Here's "Hallelujah" to start you off:


CCHallelujah from Ananda Palo Alto on Vimeo.