The orchestra tuning, an anthem of anticipation. A drum processional, John Stromberg’s snare versus Micah Lind’s djembe. Candlelight descending with members of the choir.
Wind Symphony Director Steven Thompson guides the musicians into the hall, where Artistic Director of Festival of Christmas Merrin Guice Gill appears like an angel to direct the singers. Music fills Benson Great Hall and the show begins.
Bethel University’s 67th Festival of Christmas, titled “So to Honor Him,” opened Thursday night, welcoming generations of guests. The performance was comprised of four sections featuring 20 songs and almost 200 musicians. The show was the epitome of glory, doing exactly what the name suggested: honoring Him.
The concert opened, as it does each year, with a processional featuring all musicians — this year it was “Little Drummer Boy” — taking audience members straight into the first leg, “Gift of Promise,” where Nate Holder captured audience’s attention with his solo from the choral loft in “My King is Comin’ Soon.” By the fifth song, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” I remembered what a production Festival of Christmas is. Beautiful lighting changes to accompany each piece and a powerful group of vocalists performs each well-known lyric.
Aside from the singers, the instrumentalists created an intentionally crafted accompaniment as well as starring in their individual songs. The Chamber Orchestra’s “Highland Holiday” took the cake for me in terms of instrumental pieces, as a quiet, blissful escape. Honorable mentions go to the Handbell Ensemble’s “O Sing a Song of Bethelhem,” as well as the Wind Symphony’s use of water in “Only Light,” as they both entranced me.
In “Gift of the Son,” the second segment of the night, the Festival Choir’s “We Three Kings” and the Festival Men’s “Angels From the Realms of Glory” caught my attention, both accompanied by multiple instruments, as well as featuring breath-taking dynamics and strong musicality.
The Festival Choir women blew me away with their quick-moving, technical piece “Credit, Hyems” in “Gift of Salvation.” The three narrators, dressed to the red-and-green nines, need mentioning also as they beautifully presented the story of the concert.
Finally, the Finale. “So to Honor Him, We Give Him Praise” featured Beethoven’s “Joyful, Joyful” performed by all musicians. Beginning the piece with the bold vocal entrance demanded the audience’s attention as the performers then brought the piece back down before breaking into a choreographed step amid bright lights and waving ribbons throughout the hall. One soloist Sam Smith was like a young Scott Hoying with riffs and the other, Malachi Henderson, a just as angelic voice. A true show-stopping ending to the night, prompting a standing ovation from the audience.
Festival of Christmas will run through the weekend with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Saturday at 2 p.m.
