The Rhode Island Touring Ensemble presents a Festival of Carols at Belcourt Castle

Belcourt Castle, a privately owned Newport mansion on world-famed Bellevue Avenue, is the setting for a program of choral music for Christmas on December 21, 2008.
By: The Royal Arts Foundation at Belcourt Castle
 
Dec. 15, 2008 - PRLog -- Belcourt Castle the third largest mansion in Newport, was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, “the Dean of American Architects”, for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont.  The 60-room mansion cost 3 million dollars in 1894, a figure of approximately 75 million dollars in 2007.  In 1956, the Tinney Family purchased the property and opened it as a museum in 1957. For more than 50 years, the Tinney Family has sponsored musical performances in Belcourt's Gilded Age halls.

The Rhode Island Touring Ensemble was formed over twenty years ago as an adjunct to the famous Rhode Island Civic Chorale in Providence, Rhode Island. The group of fifteen singers from Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts has performed for special occasions throughout Rhode Island in well-known venues such as Trinity Theater, The Arcade in Providence and the Rhode Island State House. The annual Christmas concerts at Belcourt Castle attract hundreds of visitors from the United States and abroad every Sunday in December. The ensemble’s conductor, Cynthia Robinshaw, M.M., a music and speech teacher for 32 years, now maintains the Cynthia Robinshaw Vocal Studio in Scituate, Rhode Island. Rena Anthony, a teacher at Western Hills Middle School, church organist and choir director, will accompany the choir and soloists on Belcourt Castle’s famous 1891 Steinway piano.  

The December 21st program includes familiar secular and sacred choral music from “Sleigh Ride”, accompanied by real sleigh bells, to the Schubert Ave Maria with a flute obbligato performed by Sarah Bruno. One of  Ms. Robinshaw’s youngest voice students, Anna Barnes, age 8, will sing “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”, a charming song with a touch of humor to delight the audience of all ages. “Ose Shalom”, a Jewish celebration of Peace, “Bethlehem Spiritual”, “The Light Come Down” and “Feliz Navidad” honor traditions of several cultures.

The French Gothic Ballroom is garlanded with traditional greens and poinsettias and a tree with sparkling white lights. In this acoustically perfect space, melodies sung by The Rhode Island Touring Ensemble inspire the soul and make lasting memories. “I come every year to get into the Christmas spirit” says Carol Couture, who has performed with the choir for over ten years, and now is their spokesperson and publicist.

In Belcourt’s Italian Banquet Hall, after the formal concert, Harle Tinney, owner of the Castle, pours afternoon tea in her family tradition. The Belcourt Castle staff has prepared home made cakes and cookies served sumptuously on antique refectory tables. For those who “hate” tea  (the late artist, Donald Tinney, for example) there is ample egg nog and mulled cider as well as coffee. While guests enjoy a variety of sweets, the Touring Ensemble encourages all to participate in the Carol Sing. Especially fun are the children who add a “toot” to “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”. Some of the audience may be challenged to act out the gifts “My true love gave to me” in the “Twelve Days of Christmas”.
The Sunday Afternoon Choral Concert with The Rhode Island Touring Ensemble and Afternoon Tea on December 21, 2008 begins with a guided tour at 1:30 p.m. Reservations are required.

For Reservations Call 401-846-0669
Or on line at www.belcourtcastle.org

December 21, 2008
1:30 – 2:30 guided tour
2:30 to 3:30. Choral concert in the French Gothic Ballroom
3:30 to 4:30 Silver Tea in the Italian banquet hall
$35.00 for Adults
$28.00 for Seniors (65 & up)
$10.00 for Children 6-12

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Belcourt Castle is a historic mansion museum in Newport, Rhode Island which features guided tours and events
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Source:The Royal Arts Foundation at Belcourt Castle
Email:***@belcourtcastle.org Email Verified
Zip:02840
Tags:Christmas, Carols, Newport, Rhode Island, Tinney, Belcourt, Castle, Mansion, Tour, Concert
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Location:Newport - Rhode Island - United States
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