Gala concert celebrates 2000th anniversary of Christ’s birth
FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, November 16, 1999
Huntington, Ind. "Huntington College will present Christmas at Huntington: A Millennium Celebration on Saturday, December 4, at 8:00 p.m. in the Merillat Centre for the Arts main auditorium. The gala event is a joint production of the Departments of Art, Music, and Communications with invited guests, The Huntington County Children's Choir. Dr. Janice Fulbright, chair of the Music Department, says the concert is designed to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the nativity of our Lord. Approximately seventy-five minutes of pure Christmas joy, this multi-media extravaganza is guaranteed to put you in the spirit of the season," says Fulbright. The lobby of the Merillat Centre will be brimming with original artwork of Huntington area children, five through twelve years old, who have drawn or painted their interpretation of the Nativity story. The best of these will be chosen by HC art students and faculty to be flashed up onto the huge screens on the stage during the concert. Also on the screens during the music will be video footage of area Christmas lights and scenes filmed and edited by our media students as well as slides of some of the greatest paintings of the masters depicting angels and the Christmas story.
The program will be narrated by speech and oral interpretation students chosen and coached by the Communications faculty. Ballet and interpretive liturgical dance is choreographed throughout the program.
The Huntington College Wind Ensemble will join the choirs and audience to open the program with a medley of familiar Christmas carols. Then the audience will travel back to the time of the great Old Testament prophets as they foretell the coming of the Messiah, Dr. Fulbright explained. Our sixty-voice Concert Choir will sing of the Advent and the promises to be fulfilled with the birth of the Christ Child. Then the Women's Choir, Chamber Choir, and the Huntington County Children's Choir will sing of the Annunciation.
The manger scene will be depicted in an original song presented by the Children's Choir and Handbells, and in the Wind Ensemble's rendition of the traditional favorite, O Holy Night, featuring junior music education major Matt Maners on trumpet.
The third portion of the program focuses on the rejoicing and reflection on the birth of the Savior and includes the beautiful Shepherd's Farewell from Berlioz' L'Enfance du Christ. The concert ends with all on stage performing together the favorite modern carol, Do You Hear What I Hear?
The Merillat Centre for the Arts will be festively decorated for the event with an impressive eighteen-foot Christmas tree in the upper lobby. The event will coincide with the Huntington College Art Department's Annual Christmas Show and Sale, allowing guests to browse and purchase works of art created by faculty and staff.
Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for students and seniors, and will be available at the door. For further information, call (260) 359-4262.
