Christmas Festival Scheduled for Dec. 8

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- The joyful sounds of the holiday season will ring through Thiel College’s William A. Passavant Center for the 61st year during the annual Thiel College Christmas Festival on Dec.8 at 4 p.m. The Christmas Festival is free and open to the public.

With the theme of “Love Cam Down at Christmas,” the festival features Johann Pachelbel, Gustav Holst, Benjamin Britten, Marlowe Johnson, founder of the Thiel Choir, Knut Nystedt, organ-accompanied choral works by Malcolm Archer and Cecilia McDowell, arrangements of spirituals and carols and hymns of the Christmas season for audience and choirs. As is tradition, the audience will be invited to sing along with the choirs during seasonal carols and hymns. Prelude music for handbells and organ will begin 20 minutes before the concert.

The Christmas Festival is presented by the Performing Arts Department and features performances by the Thiel Choir, the Thiel College Chamber Singers and the Thiel College Handbell Ringers. Dr. Michael Bray directs the ensembles with accompaniment performed by Kathryn A. Gray.

About the Thiel College Christmas Festival

For the past 61 years, the Christmas Festival has been presented at 4 p.m. on the first Sunday in December since the founding of the Thiel Choir in 1953 by Dr. Marlowe Johnson. Initially, the festivals were held in the Rissell Gymnasium with concert backdrops created and decorated by Choir members. In 1973, the festival moved to its current home in the William A. Passavant Center, and Choir members continue to create the sets for each year themselves!