BUCKHANNON – The annual Festival of Lessons and Carols will be held Sunday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m. in Wesley Chapel, ushering in the holiday season for West Virginia Wesleyan College and the local community.
Dr. R. Daniel Hughes, Chair of the WVWC Department of Music, said, “The program this year features music by many English composers including William Walton, Herbert Howells, Samuel Wesley, Charles Wood, John Gardner, Judith Weir, Bob Chilcott and Errollyn Wallen. It will also feature carols for all to sing, including favorite arrangements by David Willcocks accompanied by a brass quintet, organ and timpani.”
Dean of the Chapel, Rev. Jonathan Acord, said, “The purpose of the Festival of Lessons and Carols is to invite the Wesleyan community to experience the story of Christ’s revelation to the world through reflection and song.”
Members of the West Virginia Wesleyan College campus community will be invited to share this story during the program.
West Virginia Wesleyan’s Concert Chorale and Concentus Vocum, conducted by Hughes, will be joined by several alumni and by singers in fourth through eighth grades from Buckhannon Academy Elementary School, Flemington Elementary School, West Taylor Elementary School and Shady Spring Middle School, thanks to their teachers and West Virginia Wesleyan alumni Braden Hoffman ’20, Amanda Bise ‘10, M.Ed. ’16 and Megan Gray ‘14.
Immediately following the service, the congregation will recess outside for the lighting of the Christmas tree.
The Festival of Lessons and Carols and the tree lighting ceremony are free and open to the public.
Aladdin Food Service will serve a holiday feast including herb-crusted roast beef with a mushroom demi-glaze, chicken marsala, stuffed pork loin with peppercorn sauce, cranberry meatballs, Caesar salad, spinach salad with dried cranberries and feta, au gratin potatoes, penne pasta with vegetable ragu, fresh green beans, wilted kale with apples, deviled eggs, a fresh fruit platter and a holiday dessert display.
The cost for guests is $12.65, while the price of admission for faculty and staff is $9.33.
