K. Vandervort

K. Vandervort

K. Vandervort

K. Vandervort

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I was overjoyed to be asked to conduct this year’s Ely Area Christmas Cantata.”

Patti Stoddard

ELY – A full house of music lovers enjoyed an afternoon of holiday melodies here on Sunday. “Night of the Father’s Love” was presented by the 50-voice choir, and 10-piece chamber orchestra of the Ely Area Christmas Cantata.
The music selection, arranged by Pepper Choplin, of Raleigh, N.C., was conducted by Patti Stoddard from the University of Minnesota.
The program opened with a prelude, Aria from “How Beauteous Beams the Morning Star,” by J. S. Bach, performed by Ely’s own Accidental Ensemble, Keiko Williams, Karen McManus and Nina VanGelder.
A processional, “In the Bleak Mid-Winter,” was then performed by Michael Larson on the French Horn.
Other selections includes “The Coming of the Lord,” Waiting,” “Angels are Making their Rounds,” “Gospel Magnificat,” Night of the Father’s Love,” “The Shepard’s Song,” “Joy to the World,” “Seeking the King,” “Fall on Your Knees,” “I Will be a Child of Peace,” and “Christ is Born.”
The program included solo performances by Jennifer Merhar, Irene Hartfield, Dr. Erin Bremner and Peter Anderson. Chris Ellerbroek, Kristi Marshall and John Schiefelbein provided narration.
“I was overjoyed to be asked to conduct this year’s Ely Area Christmas Cantata,” Stoddard said in her program biography. She and her husband, Pete, live on Lake Vermilion and are members of the Grace Lutheran Church here. She grew up in Tower-Soudan and her father worked at the Pioneer mine.
Stoddard was formerly the Hibbing High School Choir director and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church choir director there. She has served on the board of directors for the Minnesota Music Educators Association and American Choral Director’s Association in repertoire and standards. Her choirs have performed worldwide, including Italy, Germany, Normandy, Ireland, Hawaii and New York City. In 2013, Stoddard received the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award.