The Chattanooga Boys Choir Singing Christmas Tree will be held Dec. 1
The Chattanooga Boys Choir Singing Christmas Tree, one of Chattanooga’s longest-running and most treasured holiday traditions, will be held on Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Tivoli Theater, with family-friendly 12 and 5:30 p.m. showtimes. Tickets are available at www.tivolichattanooga.com.
The program will include more than 100 members of the Chattanooga Boys Choir’s five component choirs, as well as guest artists from the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Youth Orchestra (Gary Wilkes, director), Ballet Tennessee (Anna van Cura, director), the Metropolitan Bells handbell ensemble (Gary Bynum, director), and the East Lake Expression Engine (Nabil Ince, Artistic Director). In all, the stage will be graced with over 200 performers providing a display of holiday music and dance.
The theme of this year’s Singing Christmas Tree is “On a Silent Night” – this theme commemorates the 200th anniversary of the popular holiday carol “Silent Night,” which was written in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. Audience members at this year’s Singing Christmas Tree will hear the carol in several versions, including a dramatic music introduction telling the story of how the song came to be written.
Other pieces performed by the choir will feature a number of traditional carols, holiday music from around the world, and several holiday favorites. Included on the program will be excerpts from Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Dan Forrest’s setting of “The First Noel,” Carl Nygard’s arrangement of “I Saw Three Ships,” and “African Noel” composed by André Thomas. In addition, the choir will share settings of “Hevenu Shalom Aleichem” and “Ose Shalom” performed in their original Hebrew.
The Singing Christmas Tree program will also feature several holiday favorites including “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Little Drummer Boy” and several other selections.
Vincent Oakes, Chattanooga Boys Choir artistic director, said, "I am looking forward to the added fun, depth, and artistry that having members of the CSOYO Youth Orchestra, Ballet Tennessee, and the Metropolitan Bells will bring to the Singing Christmas Tree program this year. There is surely something for everyone in this year’s program! In addition to the beautiful music, seeing over 200 young people engaged in such an impressive and wonderful program will be sure to lift the spirits of anyone in attendance."