The Winona Heritage Room in Winona Lake will host the holiday concert on Dec. 11. InkFreeNews photo by Dan Spalding.

News Release

WINONA LAKE — A festive “Christmas in the Village” holiday choral concert will be held with performances at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, in the Winona Heritage Room, 901 Park Ave., Winona Lake.

Directed by Dr. Ardis Faber, the program will feature numbers by the Classic Arts Programs Community Chorale, Youth Chorale and Bremen Children’s Choir, the Grace College Lancer Chorus, players from the Wagon Wheel Symphony of the Lakes and Brothers in Harmony men’s chorus.

A special feature will be a ‘Messiah Singalong,’ where selections from the Christmas portion of Handel’s oratorio ‘Messiah’ will be performed by soloists Cassandra Petrie and Landon Staley and symphony players, with the audience invited to sing along on five of the choruses. They are “And the Glory of the Lord,” “O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings,” “For Unto Us a Child is Born,” “Glory to God” and “Hallelujah.” Audience members are invited to bring their own scores or scores will be available at the concert.

Lori Widman, chair of the Classic Arts Programs, said, “This program should be a wonderful way to prepare us for the Christmas season. We are especially excited about the ‘Messiah Singalong,’ since this audience participation feature was last included in December of 2008.”

Tickets for both the 4 p.m. and the 7:30 p.m. concerts are $10 for adults and $7 for senior citizens, children and college and grad students. Tickets may be purchased online at www.classicartsprograms.com/tickets or at the door.

“Christmas in the Village” is jointly sponsored by Grace College, Classic Arts Program, the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts and the Village at Winona.