Christmas with The River City Chorale

The River City Chorale invites everyone to celebrate the beauty and joy of the Christmas season by attending “Christmas with the River City Chorale” on Saturday, December 16th. The Chorale’s three vocal ensembles will present two concerts, one at 3:00 p.m and one at 7:30 p.m., at Bethel Lutheran Church, located at 920 Third Street in Hudson.

The 110-member Chorale includes members from throughout the St. Croix River Valley, western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities. They will perform: Craig Courtney’s arrangement of the advent hymn, “People Look East”, “Unto Us a Son is Born” and “All My Heart this Night Rejoices” both arranged by Trevor Manor, traditional Polish carol, “Shepherds, Run Along”, familiar carols “Silent Night” and “Deck the Hall”, and “Nutcracker Jingles” combining the holiday classic, “Jingle Bells” with music from the “Nutcracker Suite”.

The Youth Choir will sing “Noel, Noel” by Linda Spevacek and traditional carols “How Far is it to Bethlehem” from England, “O Come, Little Chidlren” from Germany and “Angels We Have Heard on High”, which is based on a French Christmas hymn.

The Ensemble Singers will present “His Light in Us”, Kim Andre Arneson’s arrangement of a Euan Tait Christmas poem, and arrangements of traditional carols by 21st century composers, “Hark! The Harold Angels Sings” by Brant Adams, “Here We Come a-Caroling” by Josh Sparkman, and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Dan Forrest.

The Chorale and the Ensemble Singers will join together for “O Come, Emmanuel” by Elaine Hagenberg and “Joy! To the World” by Steven Strite.

Local instrumentalists will join the choirs for a number of the selections.

General admission tickets are $10.00 and can be ordered online at the Chorale’s website therivercitychorale.com. Both of last year’s performances sold out in advance, so everyone is encouraged to order their tickets soon. A small number of limited view seats will be sold at the door on the day of the concerts.

All three groups are under the direction of The Chorale’s Artistic Director, Andrew Haase. Jodell Krause will be the accompanist for the Chorale and the Ensemble Singers and Susan Whitten will accompany the Youth Choir. Additional information on the River City Chorale can be found on its website.