Christmas at the Valley

Lebanon Valley College invites everyone to join us for our annual Christmas at the Valley holiday program, “A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols,” to be held Sunday, Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Miller Chapel. Concert preludes will begin at 2:15 and 6:15 p.m., and a post-concert holiday reception will be held in the Mund College Center after both performances.

Admission is free and open to the public, but a free will offering will be collected to benefit Operation Santa Claus in Lebanon County. More than $50,000 has been raised over the past 23 years in support of Operation Santa Claus, which provides food, clothing, and toys for less fortunate families in Lebanon County during the holidays.

Viewers out of the area are invited to watch the 3 p.m. candlelight service live via LVCtv: www.lvc.edu/LVCtv. The 3 p.m. service is typically a standing room only event; please consider attending the evening service.

To open this year’s event, the College’s Handbell Choir, conducted by Dr. Shelly Moorman-Stahlman, College organist and professor of music, will perform traditional holiday favorites including “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Away in a Manger,” along with several other selections. Breanna Bergman ’17 will be a featured soloist during “He Is Born.”

The prelude will continue with organ preludes and postludes performed by Christian Johnson ’18, Cody Kelly ’16, Kara Hess ’17, Mark Sorensen ’16, and Kevin Gane ’17.

Students Kathleen Organtini ’16, Julian Gerace ’16, Paige Diller ’16, and Sara Mitsdarfer ’16, President Lewis E. Thayne, Chair of the Board of Trustees Wesley T. Dellinger ’75, and other faculty and staff will present the nine lessons. Interspersed with the lessons will be carols performed by the College’s choirs and select music ensembles.

The College Choir, conducted by Michael Wojdylak, adjunct instructor of music, will feature Dale Petersen’s “Waiting for Bethlehem’s Light,” Pepper Choplin’s “Glory to God in the Highest Heaven,” and “Regina Caeli.” The choir will also perform “Lullaby,” a piece by Wojdylak.

The Concert Choir, conducted by Matt Erpelding, director of choral activities and assistant professor of music, will sing “O Viridissima” by Michael McGlynn, “Alleluyah Sasa!” by Ben Allaway, and “The Best of Rooms” by Randall Thompson.

Erpelding will also conduct the Chamber Choir, an a cappella ensemble, for
“Ave Maris Stella” and “Flame.”

The Organ and Handbell Choir will present “Ding Dong! Merrily on High.”

Choirs and congregation will join in singing “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Once in Royal David’s City,” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”

Immediately following, alumni from the choirs will be invited to join in the singing of the traditional English carol, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Christmas at the Valley first took place in 1954 under the leadership of Dr. Maynard W. Sparks. That first service provided prayers and scripture reading prior to the LVC Concert Choir presentation of Camille Saint-Saëns’s “Christmas Oratorio” directed by professor Reynaldo Rovers. Professor Robert Smith led the combined choirs and congregation in the singing of Christmas carols. Thus began what is now a Lebanon Valley College holiday tradition.