Celebrate Winter? Brrrrrrrr. The cold. Clouds. Dark evenings. Taking refuge by the fireplace. A cup of hot cider. And that brisk “wake-up” feeling when you step outside in the first snow.

Hmmm. Yes—let’s do it! And why not also stir in some music, song, poetry, and fellowship by attending some of the five winter concerts and services at University of Puget Sound.

Winterfest: A Celebration of Winter in Music and Poetry brings the much-loved Adelphian Concert Choir and Voci d’Amici to Kilworth Memorial Chapel with a performance of music and poetry from many traditions, cultures, and lands. Two concerts will be held, on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 3, at 2 p.m., in the chapel on campus at N. 18th Street. Tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for senior citizens, military, students, and Puget Sound campus members.

Steven Zopfi will conduct the choirs and Symphony Orchestra members in works from England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Israel, United States, Norway, and Spain. The styles cover Renaissance, Baroque, modern, a cappella, carols, and gospel music. Some special features: There will be sing-along carols, music from local composer Andrew Jacobson, and a Sufi song set to a text by Islamic scholar Abu Abdillah Muhammad.

TUBACHRISTMAS will be the first concert of the season, on Thursday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. Admission is free. A brassy collection of song will be performed by student musicians in Rasmussen Rotunda, Wheelock Student Center—just inside the University of Puget Sound entrance at N. Alder Street and N. 15th Street.  The event is organized by faculty artist Ryan Schultz.

Festival of Lessons and Carols, a popular evening service, will be held at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3, in Kilworth Memorial Chapel. Rev. Dave Wright ’96 and campus members will provide readings. The Adelphian Concert Choir will lead sing-alongs of traditional carols, accompanied by the Bethel Schneebeck Organ. The festival is a traditional candlelight worship celebration of Christmas, based on the famed A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, performed each year by the King’s College Choir at Cambridge University. Attendees are invited to bring canned food, dry food, or cash donations for St. Leo’s Food Connection.

Tis the Season, a free concert featuring two more Puget Sound choral groups, will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m., in Kilworth Memorial Chapel. Chorale, conducted by J. Edmund Hughes, and the Dorian Singers, conducted by Kathryn Lehmann, will perform music including works by Christopher Aspaas, John Rutter, David Eddleman, Dan Forrest, and Keith Hampton.

For tickets: Tickets for the two Winterfest concerts are available online at tickets.pugetsound.edu, or at Wheelock Information Center, 253.879.3100. Admission is $10 for the general public; $5 for seniors (55+), students, military, and Puget Sound students, faculty and staff. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door. For directions and a map of the campus: pugetsound.edu/directions. For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253.879.3931, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility.

                                                                 – UPS