“Three different choirs within the Bel Canto family will perform this concert,” says Bel Canto Director Kelly Rocchi.

The Bel Canto Youth Chorus of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem presents its winter concert, “Hope for the World,” 4 p.m. Nov. 24, Wesley United Methodist Church, Bethlehem.

“Da Capo directed by Erica Silver is our new treble choir for singers in grades 3 through 6,” Rocchi continues.

“Alaina Swartz directs the Youth Chorale, another treble choir, for singers grades 4 through 8.

“And, the Concert Choir, which I conduct, consists of singers grades 9 through 12 as well as students in their freshman year of college who remained in the Lehigh Valley area,” says Rocchi.

The concert opens with a combined choir performance of “Give Us Hope” by composer Jim Papoulis. The composer wrote this piece after listening to children define “hope,” expressing their ideas, hopes and dreams.

The Concert Choir performs Frank Ticheli’s “There Will Be Rest,” based on a poem by American poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933).

The traditional spiritual “Chatter with the Angels,” arranged by Charles Collins; “Velvet Shoes” by Randall Thompson, and Henry Leck’s arrangement of the Chassidic folk song “Haida” follow by the Da Capo Treble Choir.

The Youth Chorale joins the Da Capo singers in the traditional round “Dona Nobis Pacem,” arranged by Jennifer Rhodes.

English composer Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) composed “Ten Children’s Songs” based upon poems by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). The Youth Chorale sings two of the 10 songs: “Lullaby, oh lullaby!” and “There’s snow on the fields.”

Next is the Spanish carol “Ríu Ríu Chíu,” arranged by Linda Spevacek, and composer Amy Bernon’s “Ballad of the Winter Trees.”

The Concert Choir sings two works by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). The first work, “Domine Deus,” arranged by Doreen Rao, features the treble voices of the choir. The second work, “Der Herr Segne Euch” from Cantata “Der Herr denket an uns,” BWV 196, adapted and edited by Peter Robb, features the tenor and bass voices.

“As a choral director, I’m always looking for different ways to spice up concerts,” says Rocchi. “And we’re doing two pieces characterized as ‘mouth music,’ an age-old tradition of sounds made by the mouth typically to accompany dancing when instruments were not available.”

The first piece is “Mouth Music” by composers Dolores Keane and John Faulkner, transcribed by Joseph Byrd.

The second piece is Kevin Siegfried’s arrangement of “Vum Vive Vum” based on a shaker tune from 1844.

Following these is Josephine Poelinitz’s arrangement of the traditional spiritual “City Called Heaven,” a beautiful sorrow song.”

The choirs combine to present “Your Soul is Song” by composer Jacob Runestad

The concert concludes with a carol sing-along with audience participation.

Bel Canto Youth Chorus, “Hope for the World” winter concert, 4 p.m. Nov. 24, Wesley United Methodist Church, 2540 Center St., Bethlehem; Tickets: Bach Choir office, 440 Heckewelder Place, Bethlehem; office@bach.org; 610-866-4382 ext. 110 0r 115; https://bach.org/

“Classical View” is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com