50th Annual Candlelight Concert
EVENT SNAPSHOT - ABOUT THIS EVENT - CALLING ALL WSU CHORAL ALUMNI
Event Snapshot
- 50th Annual Candlelight Concert
- Sunday, December 2, 2012, 4:00pm
- Sunday, December 2, 2012, 7:30pm (special alumni choir performance)
- Monday, December 3, 2012, 7:30pm
- Wiedemann Concert Hall, Wichita State University
- Tickets $7.00 adults, $3.00 students
About this Event
The WSU Choral Department will present its 50th annual Candlelight Concert on Sunday, December 2, at 4:00pm and 7:30pm and Monday, December 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Wiedemann Concert Hall. The concert features the WSU A Cappella Choir, Women’s Glee Club, Concert Chorale, and Madrigal Singers. Admission is $7 for adults, $3 for students.
Sunday evening's performance includes a special invitation to WSU Choral Alumni to join the choirs in singing F. Melius Christiansen's arrangement of Beautiful Savior under the direction of Dr. Harrison “Bud” Boughton, who initiated the Candlelight Concert tradition in 1962.
The program includes students from the WSU brass, string and percussion studios in several selections with the choirs. The concert opens with the traditional Personent Hodie, filling Wiedemann Hall in surround sound in what has become a true holiday tradition. Concert Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Michael Hanawalt, will be performing a twelve-part contempoarary arrangement the famous chorale tune Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming by Jan Sandström, the African-American spiritual Go Where I Send Thee arranged by Wichita native André Thomas, and "And the Glory of the Lord" from Handel’s Messiah. Women's Glee Club will perform the rhythmic Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day by John Gardner, a folk-style version of Auld Lang Syne arranged by Michael Hanawalt and Justine Sasanfar, and two traditional settings from Britten’s Ceremony of Carols with harp accompaniment. The Madrigal Singers will perform favorites from earlier Candlelight concerts including O Magnum Mysterium, Tyrley Tyrlow, and a vocal jazz arrangement of Angels We have Heard on High.
In honor of the 50th Anniversary of this tradition, the choirs have commissioned three new pieces, which will receive world premieres at this concert:
- Twas in the Moon of Wintertime, by René Clausen, conductor of the Concordia Choir and former WSU faculty member.
- 'Neath Starlit Skies, by Brenda Heard, Wichita native and music director of East Heights United Methodist Church
- Hodie Christus Natus Est, by Dr. Tom Wine, WSU's Director of Choral Activities
With organ music by professor Lynne Davis and opportunities for audience participation singing traditional carols, it promises to be an exciting commemoration of fifty years of the Candlelight tradition!
Calling all WSU Choral Alumni!
Did you sing in one of Wichita State's forty-nine Candlelight Concerts? If so, we have a special invitation for you! If you ever sang in any of Wichita State's choral groups, you are invited to participate in an alumni choir during the Candlelight Concert performance on Sunday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 pm. All Shocker alumni singers are encouraged to return to campus for a reunion and performance as part of this special WSU Alumni Concert. If you're interested in details, please email the alumni records center manager or sign up online so that we can gather your current mailing address and send you an invitation!