Allamakee Ecumenical Choir to present annual “Festival of Lessons and Carols” this Sunday
The Allamakee Ecumenical Choir will present its 48th Annual Candlelight Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols Service this Sunday, December 8, beginning at 7 p.m. The service will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church, located at 8 Fifth Street SW in Waukon.
Local clergy will be reading the Christmas Story and carols will be sung by the congregation with organ accompaniment. Choral numbers will also be presented by the Men’s Choir (also known as the Heartland Barbershop and Gospel Singers) and the mass Ecumenical Choir. Music will also be provided by the St. John’s Youth and Adult Handbell Choirs, Waukon High School Saxophone Quartet, along with piano accompaniment by Kristie Roeder and organ performances by James Bieber with the assistance of Kathy Murray. This year’s event is “dedicated in loving memory to Father John Moser,” pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Waukon who passed away in October of this year.
SPOTLIGHT ON SOLOISTS
Baritone soloist Shauna Johnsen, Postville Community Schools Band Director, will be featured, as well as Sarah Hagen, of Allamakee Community Players and Waukon High School’s Assistant Musical Director, whose radiant voice will join the Men’s Choir in a special performance of “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem. Hagen will perform this duet with Sarah J. Bieber, Waukon Middle and High School Choral Director and Musical Director and daughter of concert director James Bieber.
Now in its 48th year, the Ecumenical Concert is under the guidance of James Bieber, with his daughter, Sarah, as assistant director. The two have been performing together and assisting each other on hundreds of musical occasions, bringing together generations of talent and tradition.
The public is invited to attend this community celebration of Christmas in-person at St. John’s Lutheran Church for a truly unique Christmas Music experience. A reception will follow the concert for further fellowship in the St. John’s Lutheran Church basement.
For home viewing and listening pleasure, the service will also be live-streamed on the St. John’s Lutheran Church Facebook page and can also be later heard on KNEI 103.5 Radio. Tune in to KNEI Christmas Day at 10 a.m. for a rebroadcast of the Ecumenical Concert.
The Allamakee Ecumenical Choir presents the... 48th Annual Christmas Festival of Lessons and Carols
Director/Organist: James H. Bieber; Assisted by Sarah J. Bieber, Kristie Roeder, Kathy Murray
Sunday, December 8, 2024, 7 p.m.
St. John's Lutheran Church, Waukon, Iowa
Pre-Service Music: Waukon High School Saxophone Quartet
Procession of Choirs & Clergy: CHRISTMAS REJOICING, Arr.: Douglas Wagner; St. John’s Senior Bell Choir
Welcome: Rev. Bryan Robertson
Prelude: UKRANIAN CAROL OF THE BELLS, Arr.: Glenn Shields Daun, SING WE NOW OF CHRISTMAS, Arr.: Kevin McChesney; St. John’s Senior Bell Choir
Congregational Carol: O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL; Choirs, Congregation and Organ
Prayer: Rev. Bryan Robertson
The Lord’s Prayer: Rev. Bryan Robertson, Choirs and Congregation
THE CHRISTMAS STORY AND CAROLS
The Christmas Story: PART I Rev. Kenneth Kimball
Carol: UP! GOOD CHRISTEN FOLK AND LISTEN, Text: George R. Woodward, Tune: Piae Contiones - 1582, Arr.: Davide Mutti; Ecumenical Choir and Organ
Carol: ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT, Tune and Text: Traditional English, Arr: Howard Helvey; Ecumenical Choir and Piano Duet
The Christmas Story: PART II Rev. Laura Gentry
Carol: CREATOR OF THE STARS OF NIGHT, Text: Latin Hymn, 9th Century, Tune: Sarum Plainsong, 9th Century; Men’s Choir, Handbells and Organ
Carol: TOMORROW SHALL BE MY DANCING DAY, Tune and Text: Traditional English Carol, Arr: Howard Helvey; Men’s Choir and Piano
Carol: O HOLY NIGHT, Text and Tune: Adolphe Adams, Arr.: Jon Nicholas; Men’s Choir and Sarah Hagen as Soprano Soloist
Congregational Carol: PEOPLE LOOK EAST; Choirs, Congregation and Organ
Special Music: TWO FRENCH CAROLS, Arr.: Brant Adams; Baritone Horn and Piano with Shauna Johnsen, Baritone Horn Soloist
The Christmas Story: PART III Rev. Grant VanderVelden
Special Music: A STILL, SILENT, HOLY NIGHT, Arr.: Linda Lamb; St. John’s Youth Bell Choir and Sarah Bieber, Bell Tree Soloist
Announcements: Rev. Bryan Robertson
The Christmas Story: PART IV Rev. Kim Gates
Carol: CREATION WILL BE AT PEACE, Text: J. Paul Williams, Music: Anna Laura Page; Ecumenical Choir and Handbells
Carol: AVE MARIA, Franz Biebl; Ecumenical Choir
Carol: PIE JESU; Ecumenical Choir with Duet: Sarah Hagen, Soprano and Sarah Bieber, Alto
Candlelight Ceremony: SILENT NIGHT, Arr.: Robert J. Powell; Led by Rev. Bryan Robertson, Congregation and Choirs
Prayer Rev. Cathy Jurgens
Collect/Blessing
Congregational Carol: JOY TO THE WORLD; Choirs, Congregation and Organ
Postlude: O DAY FULL OF GRACE, Arr.: Robert A. Hobby; Organ
PARTICIPATING CLERGY
Rev. Kim Gates, St. Paul’s United Methodist and Forest Mills United Methodist Churches, Waukon; Rev. Laura Gentry, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Lansing; Rev. Cathy Jurgens, Zion United Church of Christ, Waukon; Rev. Kenneth Kimball, Old East and Old West Paint Creek North American Lutheran Churches, Waterville; Rev. Bryan Robertson, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Waukon; Rev. Grant VanderVelden, First Presbyterian Church, Waukon
ECUMENICAL CHOIR
Cameron Berges, Sara Berges, Dekota Bechtel, James Bieber, Sarah Bieber, Jonathan Buhl, Sean Engle, Don Fruechte, Jeff Gaunitz, Pastor Laura Gentry, Sarah Hagen, Linda Halverson, Randy Johnsen, Vickie Larson, Pat Novak, Jon Payne, Jeremy Peake, Molly Peake, Chris Stuckman, Dawn Teslow, Zach Troendle, Lois Votsmier, Kate Wooden
ST. JOHN’S LUTHERAN CHURCH YOUTH HANDBELL CHOIR
Henley Benson, Emma Berges, Connor Buhl, Dalton Ellickson, Landon Ellickson, Logan Houg, Haylee Jeglum, Jonathan Marti, Lena Rausch, Sarah Stock, Brandon Teslow
ST. JOHN’S LUTHERAN CHURCH SENIOR HANDBELL CHOIR
Sarah Bieber, Sue Blagsvedt, Dalton Ellickson, Linda Groe, Sarah Hagen, Randy Johnsen, Vickie Larson, Jonathan Marti, Carrie Niehaus, Jon Payne, Kevin Stinn, Chris Stuckman, Brandon Teslow, Sue Torkelson, Eva Urmanski
SPECIAL MUSIC
Organ: James H. Bieber, Kathy Murray; Piano: Kristie Roeder; Saxophone: Noah Evans, Eireann Goettel, Annie Ellingson, Wyatt Connelly
The concert will be rebroadcast Christmas Day, December 25, at 10 a.m. on KNEI Radio (103.5 FM)
