Holiday Events @ UPS

Festival of Lessons
Experience the holiday season as your grandparents may once have done by coming to Puget Sound’s annual Festival of Lessons and Carols. The traditional evening of celebration and giving will be held 7–8:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 4, in Kilworth Memorial Chapel at University of Puget Sound.

University Chaplain Dave Wright will lead a Christmas service that was developed in 1918 at King’s College, University of Cambridge, England, to bring together the community ahead of Christmas. 

Students, campus members, neighbors, and families in the region are invited to participate in readings, to sing carols, and to hear anthems performed by the 46-voice Adelphian Concert Choir and Voci d’Amici, an a cappella ensemble under the direction of Steven Zopfi.

The lessons draw from traditional readings about the nativity of Christ, and the carols offer an opportunity to sing familiar songs, accompanied by Jeff Orr on the Bethel Schneebeck Organ. Readers for the evening will include students and faculty members.

Admission is free, and the doors open at 6:30 p.m. Bring along some canned food, and it will be collected to benefit St. Leo’s Food Connection. Kilworth Memorial Chapel is at N. 18th Street and N. Warner Street in Tacoma. Parking is available.

Songs of Peace from Around the Planet

The Adelphian Concert Choir and Voci d’Amici will present two holiday season concerts that take a whirlwind tour of music from around the globe. Before the Marvel of This Night will include music from Christian, Islamic, Jewish, and Hindu traditions, as well as classical and folk music from other countries.

The weekend concerts will take place Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m., in Kilworth Memorial Chapel. The public is warmly invited to attend. Ticket information is below.

University of Puget Sound conductor Steven Zopfi will lead the acclaimed 46-voice Adelphian choir and the Voci d’Amici a cappella singers in an evening that features strings, organ, and percussion, as well as readings, narration, and audience singalongs.

The program will include music written by early Baroque composers Giovanni Gabrieli and Samuel Scheidt; by Francis Poulenc, a member of the 1920s Les Six group of French composers; and by the Grammy-nominated and contemporary British composer Tarik O’Regan. Folk music from abroad will add an additional exotic touch to the evening.