The Connecticut Master Chorale, under the direction of Tina Johns Heidrich, will present its annual Holiday Prelude Concert on Sunday, November 20, at 3 pm, at St Rose of Lima Church, 46 Church Hill Road.

This is a change in venue for the group’s holiday concert.

Heralding in the holidays, the Chorale will present an eclectic program to celebrate the season with a variety of festive songs, featuring music with brass ensemble, steel drums, multi-cultural works, New Orleans style jazz, lullabies, and other selections.

The concert will open with the majestic A Christmas Processional — Gloria in Excelsis Deo by Mack Wilberg, director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  It will also include two new compositions by John Rutter, the joyous Wells Jubliate, with a perfect theme for Thanksgiving, along with “Carol of the Magi.”

The program will feature “Christmas Joy” by Stephen Chatman, a festive medley that opens and closes with exultant peals of “Noel, Noel, Sing Christmas Joy!” and includes unique arrangements of seven familiar and lesser-known carols.

Steels drums are returning for including “A Caribbean Christmas Mass” by Glenn McClure, the calypso inspired “Sanctus” and salsa version of “Joy to the World.”

The Chorale will swing into “‘Tis a Wonderful Thing,” a New Orleans style jazz work by Randy Vader and Jay Rouse. “Ritsch, Ratsch, Filibom!” by Robert DeCormier is a traditional Swedish Christmas/St  Lucia carol which has been given a spirited, effervescent arrangement.

Other selections round out the program including Joel Leavitt’s inspired lyrical setting of the traditional Hebrew text “Ose Shalom”; “Merry Christmas, Darling,” the romantic Christmas classic from the repertoire of The Carpenters, and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, a Robert Frost poem set to music by Randall Thompson.

 The concert will conclude with the rousing gospel number “Every Light that Shines at Christmas,” from Dove Award winner Wayne Haun, popular gospel songwriter Joel Lindsay and Ernie Haase of Signature Sound.

The Chorale will be accompanied by the Joseph Jacovino on piano and organ, and the Connecticut Master Chorale Holiday Brass.

The Connecticut Master Chorale is an ensemble of 55 vocalists in their 13th year of singing in Western Connecticut. Newtown residents in the Master Chorale are Judy Bolduc, Ginnie Carey, Lisa Cedergren, Anita Corbeil, David Jurman, Karen Orzechowski, Nancy Raymond and Dan Yee.

Tickets for the concert are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Call 203-743-0473 for ticket purchase and visit www.CMChorale.org for more information.