A Christmas Rose Blooms at Annual Festival

The Fourth Annual Westmont Christmas Festival, “Lo, How a Rose,” will ring in the advent season with three performances at First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance at State Street. Admission to the festival Friday, Dec. 5, and Saturday, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 7, at 3 p.m., is free, but tickets are required due to limited seating. To reserve tickets or for more information, call (805) 565-7140 or e-mail festival@westmont.edu.

With more than 1,800 tickets reserved last year, the Westmont Christmas Festival has become a popular community tradition. This year the program features all the Westmont choirs as well as the Westmont Orchestra, Windancers, and student readers. Audience members will be invited to sing traditional carols throughout the performance.

Highlights of the program include Hugo Distler’s arrangement of the Christmas hymn, “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” and Felix Mendelssohn’s “A Star Shall Rise Up Out of Jacob” from the “Christus” oratorio. The finale of the festival features all the choirs together joined by the orchestra, Windancers, and a trio of faculty soloists in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Ring Out Ye Crystal Spheres” from the “Hodie” This Day oratorio.

“It’s a pleasure to offer this festive event to the Santa Barbara community while giving our students a wonderful opportunity to perform,” says Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship and the director of the orchestra and College Choir. “It puts us all in the Christmas spirit!”