John Langstaff

John Langstaff (December 24, 1920 – December 13, 2005), a concert baritone, and early music revivalist was the founder of the Northeast United States tradition of the Christmas Revels, as well as a respected musician and educator. He attended the Curtis Institute of Music as well as the Juilliard.

Langstaff's lifelong project, the Christmas Revels, began in 1957 with a show in New York. In 1971 began the longest-running Revels, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Revels, an eclectic mix of medieval and modern music and dance (primarily English in basis), involves the audience and the community in a continuation of pagan and older Christian traditions. Revels shows, now spread over the northeastern USA and the world, draw on local talent. Morris dancing, mummers, bagpipers and large choruses of men, women and children celebrate the turning of the Winter Solstice in a cheerful fashion.

Throughout his adult life, Langstaff was a dedicated music educator. In 1955 he became the music director at The Potomac School in Washington, DC, and later taught at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He wrote twenty-five books, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Frog Went A-Courtin'. He hosted the BBC-TV children's program Making Music for five years, and produced a series of videos called Making Music with John Langstaff for parents and teachers. He also published songbooks, teacher's guides, and production guides for the Revels.

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