The St. Olaf Christmas Festival has become one of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations. This year's presentation, “Promise of Peace,” features more than 500 student musicians performing at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Listen now to a one-hour special culled from this year’s program, with host Valerie Kahler.
Started in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf College Music Department, the festival includes hymns, carols, choral works and orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity. It 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 as individual groups and as a massed ensemble.
Playlist
This one-hour presentation of the 2022 St. Olaf Christmas Festival, “Promise of Peace,” includes the following works and performers:
Performers:
St. Olaf Orchestra, conducted by Chung Park (CP)
St. Olaf Choir, conducted by Anton Armstrong (AA)
Cantorei, conducted by James Bobb (JB)
Chapel Choir and Viking Chorus, conducted by Tesfa Wondemagegnehu (TW)
Manitou Singers, conducted by Therees Hibbard (TH)
Program:
George Chadwick: Noel (Symphonic Sketches) – St. Olaf Orchestra (CP)
Gustav Holst: The Heart Worships – massed choir and orchestra (JB)
Marty Haugen, arr. John Ferguson: Awake and Greet the New Morn – massed choir and orchestra (CP)
Olaf C. Christiansen: Song of Peace – St. Olaf Choir (AA)
Spiritual, arr. André Thomas: Keep Your Lamps – Viking Chorus (TW)
Tom Trenney: I Will Make a Way – Chapel Choir and orchestra (TW)
Hubert Parry: O Day of Peace – massed choir and orchestra (JB)
Aaron Jay Kernis: Musica Celestis (excerpt) – St. Olaf Orchestra
Jessica French: Earth, Strike Up Your Music – Cantorei (JB)
Kelly-Marie Murphy: Hodie Christus Natus Est – Manitou Singers (TH)
Mykola Leontovych, arr. Peter Wilhousky: Carol of the Bells – St. Olaf Choir (AA)
Peter Tchaikovsky, arr. Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn: Nutcracker Overture – St. Olaf Orchestra (CP)
Traditional, arr. Charles Forsberg: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear – massed choir and orchestra (CP)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem – massed choir and orchestra (AA)
Egil Hovland: Stay With Us, Captive and Free – massed choir and orchestra (TH)
Traditional, arr. F. Melius Christiansen: Beautiful Savior – massed choir (AA)
Sponsors
Radio broadcasts of the St. Olaf Christmas Festival are made possible as a gift to the community by Tad and Cindy Piper.
Video is produced through the generosity and support of St. Olaf's sponsors:
David and Cynthia Hill
The Mark and Laura Johnson Family
The Tomson Family Foundation
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