Tabor College plans two more holiday presentations

Tabor College has two more Christmas concerts this holiday season.

The ?Christmas Festival,? at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, and ?The Marvel of This Night? at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15.

The concerts will be presented at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church, 300 Prairie Pointe, and include the Concert Choir, Community Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Handbell Choir and the Tabor College Community Chorale. Admission is free.

Christmas Festival

The Christmas Festival, on Dec. 14, will include the Concert Choir, Symphonic Band and the Handbell Choir performing a variety of holiday music.

The Symphonic Band will play ?Assurance,? by John Ness Beck, ?Jingle Bells Forever,? by Pierpoint/Sousa, ?Variations on a Theme of Wondrous Love,? by Michael Cox; and ?A Christmas Festival,? by Leroy Anderson.

?We want to do things that are appealing and also, because of Tabor?s mission, we want it to be very Christ-centered,? Vogel said.

?Hence, the band opens with an arrangement of ?Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine,? and yet ?Jingle Bells Forever? has Sousa?s ?The Stars and Stripes Forever? blended in. The band will give the concert a rousing beginning.?

With Richard Cantwell, professor of instrumental music, on sabbatical, the Symphonic Band will be conducted by Paul Epp, a Tabor alum and former band director at Hillsboro High School.

?There are students in the Symphonic Band whose parents Paul directed in his high school band,? Vogel said.

The Concert Choir will sing ?Veni Emmanuel,? arranged by Vogel; ?Bogoroditse Devo,? by Sergei Rachmaninoff; ?O Magnum Mysterium,? by Tomas Luis de Victoria; ?Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day? by Dale Grotenhuis; ?What Is This Lovely Fragrance?? by Michael Larkin; and ?Good Christian Men, Rejoice,? arranged by Dan Forrest.

The Handbell Choir will play four numbers, including ?Carol of the Bells,? ?Coventry Carol,? and ?O Come, All Ye Faithful,? arranged by the choir?s director, Stephen Vincent, adjunct professor of organ.

?The Marvel of This Night?

The Tabor College Community Chorale will round out the concert series Dec. 15 with a concert titled, ?The Marvel of This Night.?

The chorale is comprised of singers from the Marion County area and music students from the college who rehearse 90 minutes per week. The group, in its second year, hopes that ?The Marvel of This Night? includes better weather than last year, when the group?s inaugural holiday concert was cancelled because of an ice storm.

The program will be accompanied by Tabor students playing a variety of instruments, and includes four distinct themes, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Quiet Contemplation and Hosanna in Excelsis!

The Christmas Eve segment includes ?Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,? an English Carol, arranged by Howard Helvey; ?Before the Marvel of this Night,? by Carl Schalk; and ?Still, Still, Still,? an Austrian Carol, arranged by Norman Luboff.

The Christmas Day segment includes, ?He is Born,? a French carol arranged by Jack Schrader; ?Noel Nouvelet,? a French carol arranged by Donna Schultz; and ?Pat-a-pan,? a Burgundian air arranged by Katherine Davis.

Quiet Contemplation includes, ?On This Still and Silent Night,? by James Koerts; ?A Cradle Carol,? by Dan Forrest; and ?In the Bleak Midwinter,? by Gustav Holst, arranged by Craig Courtney.

Hosanna in Excelsis includes ?Gloria in Excelsis Deo,? by Antonio Vivaldi, and ?Ding! Dong! Merrily on High,? a French carol, arranged by Howard Helvey.

?Most of the selections the audience will hear during ?The Marvel of This Night? concert have outstanding accompaniments,? Vogel said. ?Not only are the accompaniments themselves really rich, but the students who play the instruments are very talented performers.?

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