Click here for a PDF of the 2017 Christmas Festival program.
The St. Olaf Christmas Festival is a concert performance that has become one of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations.
Started in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf College Music Department, the festival — which takes place at the college in Northfield, Minn. — includes hymns, carols, choral works, as well as orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians in five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
This year's festival features the St. Olaf Choir, the St. Olaf Orchestra, the St. Olaf Cantorei, the St. Olaf Chapel Choir, the Manitou Singers, and the Viking Chorus, performing both as individual groups and as a massed ensemble.
Here's a preview of what's in store:
Program
2017 St. Olaf Christmas Festival: Risn' With Healing in His Wings
Adagio "Nimrod" (Enigma Variations)
Edward Elgar
St. Olaf Orchestra
Keep Your Lamps!
African-American spiritual
Massed Choirs
PROCESSIONAL HYMN: Awake! Awake and Greet the New Morn
Marty Haugen
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra, Audience
Jauchzet, Frohlocket (Christmas Oratorio)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra
Comfort, Comfort Now My People
Trente quatre pseaumes de David
Manitou Singers
My Lord Has Come
Will Todd
Chapel Choir
Verbu caro factum est
Hans Leo Hassler
Cantorei
Alleluia
Ralph Manuel
St. Olaf Choir
Brightest and Best
Southern Harmony
Viking Chorus
Magnificat (Collegium Regale)
Herbert Howells
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra
Joy to the World
attr. George Frederic Handel
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra, Audience
Noel
Todd Smith
Chapel Choir
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
John Gardner
Cantorei
O My Dear Heart
Eleanor Daley
Manitou Singers
Like Him We Rise
Tom Trenney
Viking Chorus
In Silent Night
Mitchell B. Southall
St. Olaf Choir
Gloria (Missa Criolla)
Ariel Ramirez
St. Olaf Choir
On Christmas Day
Steven Amundson
St. Olaf Orchestra
Gloria
André J. Thomas
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra
Go Tell It On the Mountain
African American spiritual
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra, Audience
Christmas From Around the World: O Come, O Come Emmanuel; The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy; En el Portal de Belen; 'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime; Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow; When Christmas Morn Is Dawning; O ba se je
Traditional
Massed Choirs, plus featured performances by Chapel Choir, Manitou Singers, Cantorei, Viking Chorus and St. Olaf Choir
Praise to the Lord
Stralsund Gesangbuch
Massed Choirs
The Spirit of the Lord (The World of the Spirit)
Benjamin Britten
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra
RECESSIONAL HYMN: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra, Audience
Nunc dimittis
Robert Scholz
Massed Choirs, St. Olaf Orchestra
Beautiful Savior
Silesian Folk Tune
Massed Choirs
External link
St. Olaf Christmas Festival (official site)
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