USAO concert choir partners with Pioneer Elementary for Holiday Concert

After two years of restricted singing policies and no in-person concerts due to COVID-19, the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma Concert Choir and Pioneer Elementary Honor Choir are excited to present a joint Holiday Concert on Sunday, Dec. 5, at 2 p.m. Community, university and church COVID-19 policies will be followed at the time of the event.

The performance, which is free and open to the public, features music for chorus, strings, piano, flute and handbells. First Christian Church is home to a 15-rank, 903 pipe Gress-Miles Organ, installed in 1985. The organ will join the choirs on “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” and “Tomorrow Will Be My Dancing Day,” the latter conducted by senior vocal music education major Joel Lane.

The Pioneer Honor Choir, under the direction of Crystal Wyatt, is a treble choir of students from grades 3-8. The singers rehearse twice a week in the mornings before regular classes start, preparing pieces for special school and community events. Wyatt earned her bachelor’s in vocal music education from USAO in 1996.

Dr. Jan Hanson, professor of music, conducts the USAO Concert Choir, an auditioned ensemble of mixed voices representing more than a dozen majors from throughout the university. The Concert Choir frequently performs for university, community and regional arts events.

Adjunct music instructors Dr. Susan Adams-Johnson and Dr. Bret Smithey will appear as featured vocal soloists during the concert, and Rhenada Finch, collaborative keyboardist and adjunct instructor in music, will serve as the accompanist for the event.

For more information, contact Hanson at 405-574-1298 or jhanson@usao.edu.