As we start to get ready for the Christmas season with the fountains aglow with Christmas lights and decorations already going up, many students and faculty are thinking of one thing: the annual Capital University Christmas Festival put on by the Conservatory of Music, one of the year’s most elaborate performances. For those that have never seen or heard about the Christmas Festival at Capital, it is a dynamic multimedia performance utilizing lighting, sound, visuals, and audience interaction.
It is a roughly two hour long concert that takes all of the tremendous musical talent of the Conservatory of Music and puts it into one spectacular performance where all stops and intermissions are pulled out so as to fit in as much music and enjoyment as possible.
“It’s going to be audience carols so the audience can participate,” Craig Courtney, Chapel Choir accompanist and Chordsmen director, said.
“And then you will hear five different ensembles perform, sometimes together and sometimes alone.
It is choreographed so that there is movement.
Sometimes there are voices on the stage, in the balcony, and in the aisles so you are completely surrounded by sound.”
Another member of Chapel Choir, Tyler Campbell, is performing for the first time on stage although it is not his first time in attendance.
“During high school I came to watch a few Christmas Festivals here at Capital,” Campbell said. “Every year I was completely blown away with how amazing it was.Christmas festival was what originally got me interested in Capital, and the amazing choirs I always heard were a big factor in determining that Capital was where I would be going to college.”
The theme for this year’s Christmas Festival comes from the Bible verse Luke 2:9, “And the Glory of the Lord Shone Round,” which fits into the choral theme for this year of “Shine.”
Each group, Chapel Choir, Philomel, Chordsmen, Women’s Chorus, Choral Union and a variety of instrumentalists, picked a selection of songs that they would find suitable along that topic.
“I wrote two of the pieces that [The Chordsmen] are going to sing, which is the first time that they have been sung. And they have been working their tails off,” Courtney said.
For some, the experience goes beyond that of mere entertainment, and enters the realm of the spiritual and profound.
“The first time that people come,” Courtney said, “they say ‘I have never seen anything like this, it’s so unique and powerful.’ Some people talk about being moved and overwhelmed because it is such a profound multi-layered thing that hits you.”
Junior Emily Slider agreed, and actually knew someone who had such a moving experience.
“It’s a totally spiritual moment when you have a certain atmospheric piece,” Slider said, and she described a piece that the Chapel Choir will be performing named “Serenity.”
Planning for this event starts as early as the summer with the selection of theme and continues right up until the first night of the performance to ensure that everything turns out spectacularly at the festival.
Because of the timing, Dr. Hasseler was unreachable for this article, but both Courtney and Slider agreed that Hasseler has been working extremely hard on these upcoming performances.
“Dr. Hasseler is a genius when it comes to program music, and getting moods out of music,” Slider said.
Those organizing the event are not the only ones who are busy beyond their limits preparing for the Christmas Festival.
“You get pushed to your absolute limits,” Slider said. For the past couple weeks she has been sleeping with a humidifier, drinking plenty of water, and trying not to even talk very loud so as to prepare her voice for the Christmas Festival
In the end, after seeing any one of the performances, many in the audience may agree that the sacrifice for this event is well worth it.
“I would hate to see a student go through four years and never go to a Christmas festival,” Courtney said. “because they are missing out on one of the absolute best events at the University.”
Tickets are already sold out, so if someone still wants to go, they may have to wait till next year’s performance to get in on what is sure to be the highlight of anyone’s holiday season.
abutts@capital.edu
