12.18.08
Astounding. All is Calm Iowa premier plays to a packed audience
Mid-Iowa Newspapers
Nathan Countryman, Assistant Editor

Astounding.
Fantastic.
Phenomenal.
The one word adjectives could go on and on to describe the Friday, Dec. 12 concert from Cantus and Theater Latte Da's performance of their radio drama "All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914" at First United Methodist Church in Algona.

"I've never seen this sanctuary this full," said Sarah Bierstedt, member of the Haggard-Twogood Charitable Trust.

Folding chairs were pulled out to make sure there was a seat for many who got to the doors a little after 7 p.m. All seats were full in the church by the 7:30 p.m. curtain for the musical performance.

There was no fitter way to benefit the Camp Algona P.O.W. Museum and Algona Nativity Scene than the radio drama presented on Friday evening. A free-will offering was taken at the concert on their behalf.

"We spent this morning touring the Camp Algona P.O.W. Museum and Algona Nativity Scene on our second visit to Algona," said Cantus member Adam Reinwald. "We enjoyed the facilities quite a bit and this town should be proud to have them preserved the way they are."

The radio drama featured readings from letters from soldiers who had been called to active duty in World War I, read over the performance of many different Christmas carols performed by the a capella group Cantus.

The letters ran the gambit from serious to humorous, and covered the departure of soldiers, their first encounters with war and its brutality, and carried the Christmas truce and the subsequent return to battle. The carols sung around and under the text read by Theater Latte Da gave added weight to each carol as it was performed, including carols like "Silent Night" performed in both English and its original German simultaneously show the power of music to be able to overcome the differences found in languages across the world.

During the section on the Christmas Truce, the joy and excitement of carols in different languages, and readings from many joyous letters transforms the whole performance to remind people of the excitement that makes the audience believe in the humanity of the human spirit to overcome adversities and differences, in even the most brutal of circumstances.

The Christmas Truce makes one wonder as Winston Churchill said: "What would have happened if both sides had gone on strike at the same time and found some other way to resolve this mess?"

Indeed, we might have had a different history of World War I, especially if the truce of Christmas had held and the war hadn't lasted for the next four years.
Thanks to the acoustics in the church, the voices of the nine chorus members were able to encapsulate all present in a wall of sound and show the strength and blending harmonies of a men's vocal group. It was awe inspiring to hear many sustained notes keep their pitch backing the a capella group, and hear near flawless carols produced in three part vocal harmony. The guttural of German came off as crisp and sharp as the English in many of the classic carols that were sung.

Again, words like "fantastic," "awesome," "beautiful" and "superb" come to mind when trying to sum up the concert to one who hasn't experienced the concert before.

CD's of "All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914" and other recordings by Cantus can be purchased online at www.cantusonline.org, as well as a list of upcoming concerts in Minnesota.

Thanks really need to go out to the Haggard-Twogood trust for bringing Cantus back for an evening engagement that many in this community will remember for years to come.