Get ready to be wowed as the Utah State University Eastern Concert and Chamber Choirs prepare to present their annual ‘Festival of Carols’ on Thursday, Dec. 5. To speak on what to expect from the concert, Castle Country Radio was joined by professor Larry Martin to help us get in the holiday spirit.
Opening the discussion, Martin explained what the ‘Festival of Carols’ is,” It is our annual holiday concert that we have at the beginning of every December. It’s just a celebration of the holidays. But we get to celebrate the music – and the memories – that come with those songs.”
As for what to expect, Martin stated,” There’s 13 songs in total. We have our two choirs at USU Eastern, our chamber choir and our concert choir who are joined with our community singers as well. It’s about 40 members strong and we have the Castle Valley orchestra who will be joining us as well. All but one of the songs we’ll be singing has an instrumental accompaniment in it. So it’s awesome.” He continued,” We’ll have music ranging from ‘O Come Emmanuel’, which is just a gorgeous version of it with a cello that is involved with it, all the way to ‘We Need a Little Christmas’.”
We asked Martin if he had a favorite song from the ‘Festival of Carols’, to which he replied,” It’s hard, it’s like you’re asking someone who’s their favorite child. There are so many good songs out there. But one of them that I love the most is ‘O Come, Emmanuel’, and we’re doing that first at the concert.”
As for cost, tickets can be purchased at the door and will run $5 for adults and $1 for children under 18,” Our biggest thing is just come. If there’s a money issue, we can work that out, I’m sure. But anyway, just come, enjoy. It’s hopefully our gift to our campus community and also our community at large.”
In closing, Martin remarked,” Come start your holidays with some great music, some great experiences.”
The USUE Concert and Chamber Choirs ‘Festival of Carols’ will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5 starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Geary Theatre located at 451 E 400 N in Price.