Tabor Christmas Festival set for Sunday evening
A variety of music, ranging from traditional, well-known carols to newer works written to incarnation texts, will be performed at 7 p.m. Sunday at the annual Tabor College Christmas Festival.
The public is invited, admission is free.
The event, featuring the Tabor College Oratorio Chorus and Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Cantate! and Concert Choir, will be held in the Tabor gymnasium. The Jazz Band will greet guests with seasonal songs as they arrive.
The traditional performance of Handel's Messiah, directed by Dr. Bradley D. Vogel, will close the program.
Student soloists for Messiah are: Jarod Richardson, Grant, Neb.; Elise Hiebert, Hillsboro; Jennifer Krehbiel, Haven; Heidi Glanzer, Abilene; and Ashley Siler, Beloit. Dr. Holly Swartzendruber, assistant professor of vocal music, also will perform.
The Symphonic Band, under the direction of Dr. Richard Cantwell, will begin its portion of the program with a piece entitled "Let There Be Praise," featuring Hiebert, a soprano soloist. In addition to other selections, the band also will perform Tschaikowsky's "Themes from the Nutcracker Suite," arranged by Clair Johnson.
Cantate! will perform a song arranged by Jackson Berkey, the keyboardist for Mannheim Steamroller.
The other piece Cantate! will perform is the King's Singers' arrangement of "Twelve Days of Christmas."
The Concert Choir will follow up with four pieces focused upon the incarnation of Christ — coming to earth from heaven and being the light of earth. The incarnation text, from John 1, is featured in the opening songs, and the choir's portion will end with an arrangement of a Mennonite hymn, "Nun ist sie Erschienen."
