There was nothing new about the New Choral Singers, directed by Robert Calleja, in presenting a Christmas concert. The difference lay in the inauguration of a new organ, a Johannus from the Netherlands.

Edward Camilleri’s voice has a very pleasant timbre- Albert Storace

This organ’s splendid sound featured in most of the carols sung by the choir. Organist Gino Mulè Stagno also performed a number of solos during the course of the evening.

These were arrangements of the Air from J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite N.3, Coronation March from Meyerbeer’s Le Prophet, Adagio from Galea’s Sinfonia Pastorale and Pasquini’s Partita Sopra l’Aria Della Folia d’Espña.

Following the initial carol, Praetorius’s En Natus Est Emanuel, the organ was blessed by Floriana archpriest Fr Richard Borg, who quoted from St Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians during the blessing ceremony.

The concert continued with a series of very popular and a few not so well-known ones. The latter included an unusual very pepped-up arrangement by Paul Trepte of While Shepherds Watched, sung with verve and precision, as was Jingle Bells later.

An unfamiliar arrangement to me was Robert Calleja’s of the delightful Ninni La Tibkix Iżjed, which as in so many other carols, featured two trumpeters, Jason Camilleri and André Helleur, and the latter’s wife Shirley Helleur at the keyboard.

While precision and balance remained paramount, there were instances when the choir could have sung with a little less blandness. I would have preferred the pace to be a little more high-spirited in carols such as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Adeste Fideles, two of the carols in which the audience joined in the last stanzas, as was also the case in the gentle lullaby Fuq Tiben F’Maxtura (Away In A Manger) and the well-paced Joy To The World, which ended the concert.

I liked Silent Night very much, with newcomer tenor Edward Camilleri singing the first stanza. The voice has a very pleasant timbre and while in Silent Night he tended to be a bit nervous, in Adam’s O Holy Night he sang more confidently. I hope he finds a good tutor to guide and nurture his voice because he needs to work a lot at it.

The penultimate piece was not a carol but Innu Taċ-Ċentinarju, words and music by Fr Richard Borg.

The concert was actually part-culmination of the year of festivities 2010-11, marking the fourth centenary of St Publius being proclaimed joint patron saint of Malta and the first centenary of Vincenzo Dimech’s titular statue of St Publius.