MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College’s holiday concert, “A Great and Mighty Wonder,” will honor Cornell’s sesquicentennial year with carols and anthems featuring choral ensembles and King Chapel’s Möller organ at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. Admission is free.
The 88-voice Concert Choir will perform the festival piece “Jubilate Deo” by Mack Wilberg, with senior Andrew Sorensen (Algona) on timpani and sophomore Miriam Landmark (Marshalltown) on percussion. Other pieces will include two anthems by Felix Mendelssohn; a spiritual, “I Can Tell the World,” by Moses Hogan; a West Indian carol featuring junior John Feldman (Lisbon) and sophomore Katie Brown (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) on steel drums; and a fanfare for double-choir by Daniel Pinkham, “Glory Be to God.”
Chamber Singers, the 22-voice select ensemble, will sing seasonal motets and carols including “Mary’s Magnificat” by Andrew Carter, featuring sophomore Erin Prall (Eagan, Minn.) as soprano soloist. Other selections will include the traditional carols “I Saw Three Ships,” “Ding Dong! Merrily on High” and a jazz arrangement of “Deck the Hall.”
The Chamber Singers toured to Kansas City last spring and in Europe in 2001.
Both ensembles are conducted by Lisa Hearne, Cornell director of choirs for 11 years, and accompanied by organist Lynda Hakken, a Cornell music instructor and doctoral candidate in organ performance at the University of Iowa.
A public reception in Bowman-Carter Hall will follow the concert.