Choir prepares to belt out the Chirstmas Spirit
The Logan LDS Institute wants to kick off the Christmas season early for students and families in Logan with their winter concert today and tomorrow at the Kent Concert Hall.
It’s a chance to “take a break for an hour and a quarter and go and get lost and have fun,” says Lynn Hopkins, director of the Logan Institute Choir.
Hopkins says that the concert’s theme of “Getting a Handel On Christmas” has a double meaning. On one hand, it refers to the concert beginning and ending with two George Frederic Handel songs.
However, it also refers to getting a handle on all of the stress and bustle of the season and “finding the true meaning of Christmas and the joy of the season,” said Hopkins.
This year’s concert features three different choirs, the Institute Choir, the Latter-day Voices from the Logan Institute and the Mountain Crest Magic from Mountain Crest High School. While they perform songs separately, they also join together on three songs, which several choir member agreed were highlights. “We all rehearse in different places, so it’s fun when we can come together,” said Jenni Gerard, a freshman in elementary education in the Latter-day Voices choir.
The LDS Institute Choir is the largest of the three choirs, consisting of 150 students in two separate classes that practice two days a week for and hour and a half each time. Hopkins, director of the choir for the last three years, says that the choir is unique because anyone can join. He says that the choir’s members have a full range of experience and musical knowledge, including some who have never sung in a choir before. However, the excitement that the members bring and the fun that they have together practicing and performing make the mix work.
The Latter-day Voices is the Institute’s show choir, requiring members to go through competitive auditions to get into the 64-member choir, which also features eight dancers.
The group, directed by Nyles Salmond, practices four days a week for one or two hours each time (although the dancers practice even more) and do great variety of music, from sacred religious music to popular secular music.
Gerard says that she enjoys the enthusiasm of the choir, emphasizing, “We’re not just standing still; we’re dancing and doing things [during the songs].” Elizabeth Vance, a freshman in choral education, says that the choir is able to “bring the Spirit in with their singing.”
Hopkins says that each year the concert is unique because different groups are involved. He regretted that the Institute was not able to involve any USU music groups due to scheduling conflicts this year, but says that this year has several new features as well.
Unlike some past years, all the performers will be onstage the entire show, meaning there will be no down-time between performances as performers move about stage. Also, the Latter-day Voices dancers will perform for the first time in a Christmas concert.
This year, the concert aims to be a “concert for all walks of life,” Vance said. They have a variety of styles of songs, including many unique Christmas songs such as “Celtic Christmas” and “Variations on Jingle Bells,” in which the three choirs combine to perform different versions of “Jingle Bells” that is “hilarious,” says Hopkins. “There is a lot of something there for everyone,” he says.
Tickets are $5 at the door or at Macy’s, Lee’s or the LDS Institute Bookstore. However, students enrolled in Institute can pick up free tickets from the LDS Institute. The concert begins at 7 p.m., but Hopkins encourages everyone to arrive a little early to enjoy a special pre-show surprise. CDs of the concert will be available at the performance or at the Institute Bookstore.
-tliljegren@cc.usu.edu