“Keep Christmas with you all through the year” was the refrain from the very popular Choir and Orchestra Christmas concert with the Muppets® from Sesame Street® several years ago. For the Choir organization, whether it is editing last year’s concert for the CD and DVD to be sold in the fall, working on the illustrated book that will share the concert narration with many more than the original live audience, or making plans for the guest artists and the concert program for the coming year, Christmas is part of what goes on all year long.   

Christmas Concert 2017 Dates and Tickets

This is the time of the year when many Choir fans start asking about ticket availability and the guest artist announcement. The concert will be held Thursday through Saturday, December 14–16, in the Conference Center. More information about the concert dates, times, and ticket availability can be found under Events & Tickets on the Choir’s website.

2017 Guest Artist Announcement

Watch for the exciting announcement of the 2017 Christmas guest artist(s) on KSL Radio’s The Doug Wright Show during the middle part of October. Specific details will be published in upcoming Choir Notes newsletters.

2017 Christmas Concert Planning

During this part of the year, work on music, staging, costumes, choreography, and art design begins in earnest. Ideas move from the conceptual stage to implementation, particularly in long lead-time items like staging and costumes. (The Christmas concert’s costume designer, Susan Memmott Allred, was awarded a Pioneer of Progress Award for 2017. Her costumes add color and drama to the Choir’s Christmas productions each year.) Information about auditions for Christmas concert dancers for this year will be available soon.

Products from the 2016 Concert

The 2016 Christmas concert guest artist Rolando Villazón remarked, “Regardless of what your beliefs are, what your religion is, I think that Christmastime opens the heart. … We need a world that unites us. Every opportunity we have to send that message is important.” That message will go out in three new products that will be released in October 2017: a CD and DVD entitled O Come, Little Children, which features Rolando Villazón, and a book, The Little Match Girl, based on the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale retold by David Warner and narrated by Mr. Villazón. 

The CD and DVD capture the magic of last year’s concert with a focus on the childlike simplicity and youthful enthusiasm that comes at Christmas. The book is illustrated beautifully by artist Greg Newbold and will include a link for readers to view the video of “The Little Match Girl” narration from the concert. (See the Shop pages of the Choir’s website for more information.) Watch Choir Notes for information about preorders and product release dates.