WFU to Present Holiday Choral Concert

Directed by Brian Gorelick, three Wake Forest choirs will present a musical hour of carols and seasonal selections.

The ensembles will combine into a 100-voice mixed chorus to sing “For Unto Us a Child is Born” from Handel’s “Messiah” and invite the audience to join the singers in closing the concert with “Hallelujah” from the same piece.

The choirs also will perform individually. The 56-voice Choral Union will sing Michael Praetorius’s “Paallite,” Franz Schubert’s “Salve Regina” and Brent Pierce’s “How Still He Rests.”

The Collegium Vocal Ensemble, dedicated to the performance of early music, will present an arrangement of three medieval carols by Carol Otten, featuring soloists from the group. They also will perform the French carol “Jacques, Come Here” arranged by Richard Donavan.

The Concert Choir, in addition to traditional Christmas carols, will sing a setting of “O Magnum Mysterium,” written for the concert choir in 1993 by Dan Locklair, the university’s composer-in-residence. The 44-voice ensemble also will sing J.P. Sweelink’s “Hodie Natus Est,” and sacred music from English composers Richard Ferrant and Richard Ballet.

Admission is free. For information, call 910-758-5026.