Every Christmas season, the wonderful music groups at Decorah, Iowa's Luther College, including Nordic Choir, Symphony Orchestra, Cantorei, Christmas Brass and Percussion Ensemble, Cathedral Choir, Collegiate Chorale, Norsemen and Luther Ringers, present their massive "Christmas at Luther" festival, which tells the story of the Nativity in narration and music. The music is always magnificent and amazing, with the various groups performing individually and combined, and the story moving and timeless. Very hard to pick favorites, but Colin Marnach's solo on "Comfort Ye My People" from Handel's "Messiah," Cathedral Choir's a cappella "Arise, Shine!," Nordic Choir's "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones," Collegiate Chorale's "Weihnachten," Norsemen's "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow," and the final cut, Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Nation Shall Not Lift UP a Sword Against Nation (from Dona Nobis Pacem)" by the combined choirs, Symphony Orchestra and organ, will have to do. Every year "Christmas at Luther" outdoes itself in magnificence and beauty. |
