Children's voices ring out in 'Gift of the Magi'

There's something about O. Henry's century-old tale of a cash-poor couple, each of whom trades his or her most prized possession (her hair, his watch) for a present for the other (jeweled hair combs, watch fob), that never fails to choke me up. It's all so touching, so ironic. I can't imagine how much more moved I might feel by "The Gift of the Magi" put to music.

Adolphus Hailstork, a nationally revered Virginia Beach composer, has created a new work based on that tale for children's voices and orchestra. It will premiere Dec. 13 at the Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News and Dec. 15 at Regent University's Communication and Performing Arts Center in Virginia Beach.

The Virginia Children's Chorus was the principal commissioner, and that group's artistic director, Carol Thomas Downing, wrote the libretto (you know, the words they sing).

Downing asked Hailstork to write "lovely and simple melodies" for the children to sing, and Hailstork happily delivered. "I'm essentially a neo--romantic anyway," he said. "I was just being myself."

A chamber orchestra drawn from Virginia Symphony musicians will play for these performances, to be conducted by JoAnn Falletta. The story also will be expressed through dance choreographed by Todd Rosenlieb.

With any luck, it will become a holiday staple. We could use a new one, not that there's anything wrong with Handel's 1740s "Messiah." In fact, the entire first part of the score as well as the "Hallelujah" chorus, which ends part two, will be presented on the same program with the 24-minute "Magi."

Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com