Teddy Bears will be invited guests when the Shenandoah Valley Childrens Choir (SVCC) presents its 12th annual Christmas concerts 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, in Lehman Auditorium at Eastern Mennonite University.
All audience and choir members are asked to bring a new teddy bear to be sent to Long Beach, Miss., Harrisonburg’s adopted city that was demolished by Hurricane Katrina.
The Christmas concerts will feature 150 children in three choirs including the Preparatory Choir (ages 8-11), directed by Joy Anderson; the Treble Choir (ages 10-15) and the Concert Choir (ages 11-17), directed by Julia White.
The Preparatory Choir will sing "Christmas Comin’" and "The Cuckoo Carol." The combined Preparatory and Treble Choirs will sing "Sans Day Carol" and "Shalom, Friends," a Chanukah song.
The Treble Choir alone will sing a new arrangement of "Deck the Hall" and the familiar carol, "In the Bleak Midwinter."
The Concert Choir, the SVCC’s touring choir, will sing a variety of holiday songs, including Britten’s "This Little Babe" from "A Ceremony of Carols" and "Cuncti Simus," a Spanish medieval song with processional. Familiar holiday songs include "Gesu Bambino" and "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts roasting. . .), both with soloists. Randall Thompson’s "Solstice" and Bach’s "Duet No. 15 Laughing and Shouting for Joy" will be included in the program.
The traditional Jewish folk song, "S’vivon" (Spinning Top), will be sung in Hebrew and will include violin accompaniment. A variety of child soloists will be featured in the literature as well as audience sing-alongs.
Guest instrumentalists will include EMU faculty members Joan Griffing and Maria Lorcas on violin, who will accompany the choir and present solo works for violin. John Fast, organist and long-time friend of the SVCC, will accompany the violinists and lead the audience in familiar carols.
Tickets are available through the EMU box office at 540-432-4582. The box office is open 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday but will be closed November 24 and 25 for Thanksgiving. Reserved section seats are $12, general adult admission, $10, seniors and students $8, and children under 12, $5.
For more information contact Judy Leaman, choir manager, at 540-432-4650.