Christmas Fest Celebrates 10 Years in SB
The Westmont Christmas Festival, one of the most popular holiday events in Santa Barbara, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with performances Dec. 5-6 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 6-7 at 3 p.m. all at First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance Ave. Tickets to “Behold I am Making All Things New,” which cost $15 apiece, can be purchased online at www.westmont.edu/christmasfestival. Please call (805) 565-7140 for more information. Funds raised from the Dec. 6 matinee support the Westmont Orchestra’s tour to Italy in spring 2015. The Saturday night performance has sold out.
Due to the expanded number of performances available this year and with plans to video portions of the event at the final rehearsal, there will not be a complete open dress rehearsal on Thursday evening this year. Individuals interested in watching the final working rehearsal and video recording on Thursday night will be admitted beginning at 7 p.m. This will be a working rehearsal and not a complete, seamless performance. Individuals attending this rehearsal may be included in audience views in the video production.
The festival intertwines traditional carols of the season with historic and contemporary choral masterpieces performed by the 60-piece Westmont Orchestra and 100 combined voices in the Westmont choirs. The diverse program includes music that spans centuries, including “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” an 11th century hymn arranged by John Beresford and a world premiere performance of “Nativity Prayer of St. Bernard” composed by alumnus Daniel Gee ’13.
Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship, conducts the Westmont College Choir with Han Soo Kim, assistant professor of music, as string coordinator and Paul Mori, part-time professor of music, as wind and brass coordinator. Grey Brothers, professor of music, conducts the Westmont Chamber Singers and the Men’s Chorale. JoAnne Wasserman conducts the Women’s Chorale. Steve Hodson, professor of music, conducts New Sounds.
“The past 10 years have been an exciting journey for Westmont’s musicians and our audiences,” Shasberger says. “We have more than doubled the attendance and the number of student musicians in the program as well as doubled the number of performances. We have told the story of the nativity from 10 different viewpoints over those years, so each year has had a fresh perspective.”
Shasberger joined the Westmont faculty in 2005. He started the festival with two performances, one at First Presbyterian Church and the other in the acoustically challenged Westmont gym. By its third year, the festival expanded to three performances with more than 1,800 audience members at First United Methodist Church. In 2009, the festival returned permanently to First Presbyterian Church for three performances in front of more than 2,400 people.
Each year, tickets to the three performances have sold out in less than 24 hours. Last year and again this year, Westmont has added special Saturday matinees to benefit the choir and orchestra tours.
“This year we are looking at how the Christmas story changes the entire course of human history and points us toward the restoration of the Kingdom of God,” Shasberger says. “Our music and texts direct us to see the nativity as the start of the story of redemption, not just a remembrance of events from long ago. To that end much of the music is new. Along with the world premiere of a piece for the choirs and the orchestra by recent alumnus Daniel Gee, we have a recent American work for orchestra based on a Danish carol. We have some exciting late 20th century and early 21st century musical settings that will definitely be new to the audience, and of course we have some lovely old things that people love.”