Glee Club Annual Christmas Concert

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield University Glee Club will celebrate the evolution of musical traditions at Christmas with its annual concert, “An American Christmas,” at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The Festival Orchestra will join this year’s performances, which will take place on Friday, December 1, at 8 pm, and Saturday, December 2, at 2 pm.

Under the direction of Carole Ann Maxwell, DSM, the full Glee Club and its smaller ensembles will perform an adventurous program of Christmas music spanning the 17th through the 20th Centuries.

One of the program highlights, “Huron Carol,” to be sung in the original Algonquin language, is the earliest Christmas carol composed in North America. It was created in 1641.

The chamber singers will present William Billings’ “A Virgin Unspotted,” a characteristic example of the strong rhythms and clear harmonies favored in Revolutionary times.

Also on the program will be “African Noel” arranged by Andre Thomas; “Jingle Bell Fantasy” composed by James Lord Pierpont in 1857 as a “sleighing song”; selections from celebrated composer Gwyneth Walker’s “Rejoice!” – a new musical setting of traditional Christmas carols – and Isaac Watts’ familiar hymn, “Joy to the World.”

The Glee Club is a mixed chorus of more than 100 undergraduate and graduate singers known on campus and abroad for 60 years of musical excellence. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Westminster Cathedral in London, and the Aula Paolo VI at the Vatican.

Tickets are $10, $6 for students. Call the Quick Center box office at 203-254-4010 or 877-278-7396 to purchase tickets. For more information, visit QuickCenter.com.

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is on North Benson Road.