Christmas is a hot time in Southern Hemispherical Australia, so there's a certain irony in an Aussie-based vocal group doing a program of pieces about sleigh rides and snowy scenery.
But I can't imagine anything hotter than the Ten Tenors singing cold-weather and Christmas classics the way they did Saturday night at Little Rock's newly rebuilt Robinson Center Performance Hall.
The concert kicked off a 24-U.S.-city "Home for the Holidays" tour, with the tenors -- Adrian Li Donni, Cameron Barclay, Florian Voss, Jared Newall, JD Smith, Jordan Pollard, Michael Edwards, Paul Gelsumini, Sam Roberts-Smith and Virgilio Marino -- in support of their just-released album, Our Christmas Wish.
The show also featured a three-piece stage band (Benjamin Kiehne, piano; David Orr, guitar; and Trent Bryson-Dean, drums) and rock-concert-like lighting that, unfortunately, tended to flash into the faces of the audience.
Where, exactly, is the dividing line between a dectet and a glee club, I couldn't say, but this is certainly a well-integrated ensemble, some with operatic training, some with classical backgrounds and a couple coming out of musical theater.
Enjoyable arrangements of "Joy to the World" and "Adeste Fidelis" opened the program; a rather militant version of "Little Drummer Boy" opened the second half. Other Christmas hits include a doo-wop, a cappella version of "All I Want for Christmas Is You"; a particularly lush and moving performance of "White Christmas"; a highly charged version of "Feliz Navidad"; and "O Holy Night," one of God's great gifts (via composer Adolph Adam) to high voices.
Interestingly, what mostly brought down the house were the non-Christmas compilations -- a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, with considerable passing around of solo lines; a "Down Under" medley ("Down Under," "I Still Call Australia Home" and an anthemlike version of "Waltzing Matilda" in a 6/8 waltz time); and, just before intermission, a sort of silly but thoroughly enjoyable "Best of the Divas" medley of hits by female singers, complete with "hair tosses."
Metro on 11/27/2016