CANTON, Mo. — Culver-Stockton College’s Christmas Choral Concert, which has ushered in the holidays at the school and the Canton community for more than 150 years, will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 in the Alexander Campbell Auditorium in the Robert W. Brown Performing Arts Center.
The concert will begin with the 60-voice Collegiate Choir singing a joyful, syncopated processional based on the ancient chant “Veni, Veni Emmanuel” by Michael John Trotta, continue the rhythmic energy with “Noél Ayisyen,” a carol from Haiti, and then showcase seasonal works of John Rutter, Eric Whitacre and Charles Ives.
The Chamber Choir will offer a wide contrast of styles, ranging from the “Hodie Christus natus est” of Heinrich Schütz to the lovely Hugo Distler arrangement of “Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming” and the more angular and syncopated “Ave Maria” by Javier Busto.
The Concert Choir enters with its own processional to an arrangement of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” arranged with a completely different sense of time and grandeur. Capturing the rejoicing of the season with the Parker/Shaw arrangement of “Christ was born on Christmas Day” and “Hallelujah, Christ is Born” by Rosephanye Powell, the Concert Choir charges the tempo with André J. Thomas’s “Rockin’ Jerusalem” before returning to the peace of the season in the Hughes/Loose “Lullaby for a King” and ending with their traditional “Peace, Peace” with candlelight “Silent Night.”
Scotty Allison conducts all the choral ensembles.
A brass quintet and saxophone quartet will provide instrumental interludes under the direction of Aren Van Houzen and Trent Hollinger respectively. A dessert reception in Merillat Chapel and Recital Hall will follow the concert, with light seasonal music provided by various instrumental ensembles.
Admission is free. The concert also will be streamed live on Culver-Stockton’s Facebook page.
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