Tickets on sale for popular Dec. 2 Christmas concerts

The University of St. Thomas will present its annual Christmas concert, "Noel! Sing We Noel!" at 4 and 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, in Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis.  

The concert will feature seven of the university's vocal and instrumental ensembles in a program of carols and traditional and contemporary music for the Advent and Christmas seasons.   Performing ensembles will include the Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, Liturgical Choir, Women's Choir, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Brass Choir and Handbell Choir.  

The concert’s title comes from the French carol that serves as its processional. The program includes works by Father Michael Joncas, an internationally known composer of liturgical music who is an associate professor of theology at St. Thomas; and Javier Busto, William Mathias, Vaclav Nelhybel, Guillaume Bouzignac, Eleanor Daley and Percy Aldridge Grainger, among others. “Novum Guadium,” a carol by Minnesota composer Libby Larsen, will premiere at the concert; it was commissioned by the St. Thomas Liturgical Choir in celebration of its 30 th anniversary this year. Carols sung in Haitian Creole and the Kituba language of Central Africa complement traditional French and English tunes, and Mendelssohn’s triumphant “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” concludes the concert.

All concert proceeds will benefit St. Thomas music ensembles’ international performance tours.

STAR will sponsor the sale of 200 discounted tickets for undergraduate students for the 8 p.m. performance. These tickets will be sold at the UST Box Office beginning at noon today, Nov. 12, until they are sold out.   Tickets will cost $5. Students will be able to purchase one ticket by presenting their UST ID.

No tickets will be available at the UST Box Office for alumni, faculty, staff, graduate students, parents, neighbors or the general public. These tickets, which must be purchased through the Orchestra Hall Box Office, are available for online purchase at www.minnesotaorchestra.org or by phone order at (612) 371-5656 or 1 (800) 292-4141. All seats are $15 plus a nominal Orchestra Hall transaction fee.  There is no limit to the number of tickets that may be purchased.