Click here for a PDF of the Christmas Festival program.
The St. Olaf Christmas Festival is a concert performance that has become one of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations.
Tickets to the event — which takes place at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. — are always gone months in advance.
Started in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf College Music Department, the festival includes hymns, carols, choral works, as well as orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians in five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
This year's festival features the St. Olaf Choir, the St. Olaf Orchestra, the St. Olaf Cantorei, the St. Olaf Chapel Choir, the Manitou Singers, and the Viking Chorus, performing both as individual groups and as a massed ensemble.
PROGRAM
2016 St. Olaf Christmas Festival — Light Dawns, Hope Blooms
The Gift
Steven Amundson
The St. Olaf Orchestra
Climb To the Top of the Highest Mountain
Carolyn Jennings
Massed Choirs and The St. Olaf Orchestra
All Earth Is Hopeful (Toda la tierra)
Alberto Taule, arr. James E. Bobb
Massed Choirs and The St. Olaf Orchestra
Processional Hymn: Prepare the Royal Highway
Swedish Folk Tune, arr. John Ferguson
Massed Choirs, Audience and The St. Olaf Orchestra
And Then Shall Your Light Break Forth (Elijah)
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Massed Choirs and The St. Olaf Orchestra
A Spotless Rose
Herbert Howells
The St. Olaf Choir
Noel, Noel, Noel
Paul Gibson
Viking Chorus
The Hills Are Bare at Bethlehem (Premiere Performance)
Southern Harmony, arr. John Ferguson
St. Olaf Cantorei
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Kenneth Jennings
Manitou Singers
Let There Be Light
Craig Courtney
Chapel Choir
O Come, All Ye Faithful
attr. John F. Wade, arr. John Ferguson
Massed Choirs, Audience and The St. Olaf Orchestra
This Christmastide (Jessye's Carol)
Donald Fraser
Massed Choirs and The St. Olaf Orchestra
In My Arms (Premiere Performance)
Philip Biedenbender
Viking Chorus
Let Every Heart
Cary Ratcliff
St. Olaf Cantorei
'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
Huron Carol, arr. Timothy C. Takach
Chapel Choir
If You Would Hear the Angels Sing
Stephen Smith
Manitou Singers
His Light In Us (Premiere Performance)
Kim Andre Arnesen
The St. Olaf Choir
Shout for Joy! (Premiere Performance)
African American Spiritual, arr. Andre J. Thomas
The St. Olaf Choir
Light Dawns on a Weary World (World Premiere)
Mack Wilberg
Massed Choirs and The St. Olaf Orchestra
Farandole (L'Arlesienne, Suite No. 2)
Georges Bizet
The St. Olaf Orchestra
Carols from Scandinavia
compiled Steven Amundson
• O Yule Full of Gladness
arr. Carolyn Jennings
Viking Chorus
• When Christmas Morn is Dawning
arr. Morton Luvaas
St. Olaf Cantorei
• Guiding Star Carol
arr. Olaf C. Christiansen
Chapel Choir
• Nu ar det Jul igen
arr. Steven Amundson
The St. Olaf Orchestra
• The Bells of Christmas
arr. Carolyn Jennings
Manitou Singers
• Thy Little Ones, Dear Lord
arr. Kenneth Jennings
The St. Olaf Choir
• Joy To the World
English Melody, arr. Steven Amundson
Massed Choirs, Audience and The St. Olaf Orchestra
O Day Full of Grace
Christoph E. F. Weyse, arr. F. Melius Christiansen
Massed Choirs
Ring Out, Ye Crystal Spheres (Hodie)
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Massed Choirs and The St. Olaf Orchestra
Recessional Hymn: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Rowland H. Prichard, arr. John Ferguson
Massed Choirs, Audience, and The St. Olaf Orchestra
Stay With Us (Captive and Free)
Egil Hovland
Massed Choirs and The St. Olaf Orchestra
Beautiful Savior
Silesian Folk Tune, arr. F. Melius Christiansen
Massed Choirs
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