Readings and music will come together as they have since 2002 as Fresno Pacific University celebrates Christmas with the community through Lessons and Carols.
This year’s program—“Arise, Shine, For Thy Light Is Come: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols”—will be at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, December 8, 2024, in University Presbyterian Church, 1776 E. Roberts Avenue, Fresno. Ticket prices, reservations and more information at: A Festival of Lessons and Carols 2024 Tickets, Sun, Dec 8, 2024 at 3:00 PM | Eventbrite. Any tickets not sold by December 6 will be available at the door.
The event will combine the talents of the university and Fresno. Ensembles will be the FPU Concert and Chamber choirs, Fresno Choral Artists, the University Presbyterian Church Handbell Choir and San Joaquin Chorale.
Woven from several sources to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Lessons and Carols tells the story of the promise of the Messiah and the birth of Jesus in nine lessons beginning with Genesis and including the prophetic books of the Bible and the Gospels. The program is based on a Church of England service first performed in 1918 at King’s College, Cambridge University, and was originally adapted from an order by E.W. Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury.
Jeffrey S. Wilson, D.M.A., professor of music, is artistic director of the event and director of the FPU Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, Women’s Ensemble and San Joaquin Chorale community group. Fresno Choral Artists is directed by Adeline Hollingsworth with Jordan Williams as pianist, and University Presbyterian Church Handbell Choir is directed by David N. Knudson.
Individual musicians will include Matthew Horton, piano; Scott Horton, organ; John Morrice and Cynthia Stuart, violin; Claudia Shiuh, viola; Judy Robinson, cello; Heidi Franklin, double bass; Chris Janzen, guitar; Karen Madden, piano; and Steve Madden, clarinet. Readers will be students, faculty, administration, staff and friends of FPU, including President André Stephens, Ph.D., and Roy Klassen, D.M.A., faculty emeritus and founder of FPU’s Lessons and Carols.