The North Shore Community Chorus hosts a choral Christmas concert at St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church in Oyster Bay

The holiday season is finally here, and with Christmas and Hanukkah right around the corner the time has also come for the North Shore Community Chorus’ annual Glorious Music of the Season Concert. Featuring iconic Christmas choral pieces by composers Antonio Vivaldi and George Frederic Handel, the chorus will be bringing their lyrical skill to St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church in Oyster Bay on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m.

The chorus was originally founded in 1983 by Karin Barnaby of Sea Cliff and George Santos of Huntington, who approached Stephen Goldstein, North Shore High School’s choral director at the time, with the idea of forming a community chorus group. Barnaby, who sings with the chorus as an alto to this day, explained that the group was born out of a desire to sing, without getting caught up in fundraising as other private choral groups often were.

“I founded the chorus because I needed to sing,” Barnaby recalled. “I had been in the Long Island Singers before, which was wonderful, but so much of the activity was fundraising, which took all the fun away from singing.”

Goldstein, who is still the group’s director, loved the idea, and since then the chorus has held multiple concerts every year, barring the dark days of the pandemic. The group has grown to include over 60 performers of various ages, including some former students of Goldstein’s from North Shore.

One thing that makes the group stand out among the various choruses on Long Island is that they do not require potential chorists to formally audition. Goldstein explained that when forming the chorus, they wanted to welcome as many people who love music as possible, although they do have to have at least some musical ability to participate.

“We’re a choir that has some professional musicians, current and former music teachers and also inexperienced singers, which makes for a very wonderful blend of experienced and novice musicians in the group,” Goldstein said. “All I require is that they have a basic musicianship, which is of course the ability to hold notes and sing in tune and hold harmony.”

Tim Carl, the accompanist for the chorus, is also the resident organist for St. Dominic’s. He said that while playing in a church as opposed to their normal venue, the North Shore High School, can pose some challenges, in some ways it makes the performance more straightforward.

Carl added that for their upcoming concert, the group will be performing Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” written in the early 1700’s by the Italian composer, and Handel’s “Messiah, Part I,” which was written by the German composer while he was at the court of King George II of England. The chorus has performed the pieces several times over the years, as they are both considered Christmas classics in choral history.

“Handel’s ‘Messiah’ is probably far and away the most famous piece of choral music that there is,” Carl continued. “They’re both very Christmas-y pieces, and they’re just wonderful seasonal songs that really fill the spirits.”