Go Tell it on the Mountain
Christmas Festival 2008
Featuring the Capital University Chapel Choir, Choral Union and the Women's Chorus
Mees Hall, Capital University
Thursday, Dec. 4 – 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 5 – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 7 – 3:30 p.m.
From Dec. 4-7, the Capital University Conservatory of Music will present its annual Christmas Festival, featuring the Chapel Choir, Choral Union, the Women's Chorus and a variety of instrumentalists. This festival is a long-standing holiday tradition enjoyed by the university, its friends and the greater Columbus community.
As in the past, seats are reserved for all concerts. Tickets, which go on sale Monday, Nov. 3, are $20 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens (age 62 and older), plus a $2 handling fee per order. Orders will be processed beginning Nov. 3. Phone orders will not be accepted until Nov. 10. Please note, there are no ticket refunds or exchanges, and there is a limit of 8 tickets per purchase.
Christmas Festival ticket sales will be handled through Capital’s box office, located in Mees Hall. Please use the ticket order form (pdf) to order tickets by mail or at the box office. Box office hours are 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday through Friday. Checks should be made payable to Capital University. Please send a self-addressed stamped envelope for mail orders. For additional information or to order tickets by phone beginning Nov. 10, call (614) 236-6938.
The Thursday and Friday performances will be preceded by a buffet dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the Harry C. Moores Campus Center. The dinner is $21 per person and attendance is by reservation and prepayment only. If you would like to purchase dinner tickets, call (614) 236-6200 or use the dinner ticket order form (pdf). Space is limited; dinner tickets will be sold on a first-come basis. Make checks for the buffet payable to Capital University, with the memo “Christmas Festival Dinner.” Tickets will be mailed after payment is received.
Due to the length of the Christmas Festival concert, please remember that the event is not appropriate for infants and small children.
Performances RecordingsListen to a sampling of past Christmas Festivals featuring the Chapel Choir, Choral Union and Women's Chorus.
The Christmas Festival continues a legacy dating back to the 1928 founding of the Capital University Chapel Choir by the late Ellis E. Snyder. As the university's annual Christmas gift to the community, the festival has become one of Columbus' cherished Christmas traditions. The festival is presented each year to capacity audiences in Mees Hall on the Capital campus.
Lynda R. Hasseler, D.M.A., professor of music and director of Choral Activities in the Conservatory of Music at Capital University, directs the Chapel Choir and Choral Union and teaches choral conducting. A graduate of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., Hasseler taught elementary, junior high and high school choral music before pursuing a master of music and doctor of musical arts degree from Michigan State University. She holds memberships with the American Choral Directors Association, Ohio Music Education Association, Music Educators National Conference and The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
Hasseler is active as a guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician for a variety of choral events and festivals throughout the United States. Choirs under her direction have received numerous invitations to perform for various music conferences and have toured nationally and internationally. In addition to her work as a conductor, Hasseler has maintained an active singing career. A mezzo-soprano, she has performed, toured and recorded nationally and internationally with professional choral ensembles. Nurturing Capital University’s rich choral legacy Hasseler continues to program the classic and contemporary a cappella sacred and secular choral literature. Reflective of her commitment to perform music from global perspective, choirs under her direction have expanded their repertoire and developed a reputation for performances that feature diverse programming, staging and a range of tone colors uniquely suited to each style of music.
As a member of the Robert Shaw Festival Chorus, she toured France with the ensemble and appeared as a soloist. In addition to the concerts presented in France, she also has performed several works in Carnegie Hall with the Shaw Festival Singers. She has been invited to Carnegie Hall to sing under the direction of conductors Sir Neville Marriner and André Previn, where she also served as section leader in the preparation of the chorus. In 2005, she returned to New York to sing Mozart’s Mass in C Minor under the direction of Helmuth Rilling in Carnegie Hall. As a member of the Oregon Bach Festival Choir, she toured internationally performing concerts in Krakow and Warsaw, Poland; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Germany. She shares Grammy honors with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra, which, under Helmuth Rilling’s direction, were awarded the 2000 Grammy Award Best Choral Performance for their recording of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Credo.