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Annual Christmas Benefit Concert for the Community Food Pantry

Date 12/11/2003 12:00 AM | Topic: News

The Burning Bright Annual Christmas Benefit Concert will be performed on Saturday, Dec 13 at 5:00 and 7:30 p.m. at Decorah's United Methodist Church, or, if there is inclement weather, on Sunday the 14th.

All proceeds from this year's concert will be donated to the Community Food Pantry at First Lutheran Church in Decorah.

The concert, performed by over 40 local musicians, presents joyful, exquisite, lesser-known carols that capture the warmth of the season. Selections for this year include traditional American hymns as well as music from around the world. The concert is a pageant of choral and instrumental pieces, choreographed to comfort and uplift us all in this season of light and generosity. In addition to the adult choir there is also a youth choir, which brings innocence, richness and a lovely lightheartedness to this celebration of the joy of living.

The concert is enjoyed each year not only by the enchanted audiences, but also by the performers: friends who truly look forward to and appreciate the opportunity to get together to rehearse and perform in the spirit of the season. It is an event that brings an abundance of good holiday cheer to the musicians and their families, and when the evening of the performance is at hand, there is an unmistakable magic in the air that streams out to the audience and to the greater community. Instrumentation this year will include mandolin, guitar, Celtic harp, oboe, accordion, fiddle, recorder, flute, and harpsichord. Included among the instrumentalists this year will be John, Karen and Maura Goodin, Beth Hoven Rotto; Beth Lynch; Tom and Kasi Misseldine; Nick Preus; David, Kathy, and Eleanor Reed-Maxfield; Erik Sessions; Rob van Tyn; Jeroen van Tyn; Rob Hervey; and Pine Wilson of MARITZA.

Kathy Reed-Maxfield, Luther instructor in music as well as founder and co-director of the annual event, is an early music specialist and harpsichordist. "The themes of Christmas music are so beautiful: new birth, light, peace and warmth. Those are evocative themes, and the carols we'll perform address them with perfect simplicity," she said.

Co-directing this year's performance will be Otter Dreaming, an organist and folk musician who took part in Burning Bright in 2002.

Tickets are available in advance at Oneota Community Co-op at 415 W. Water St. in Decorah and at Kephart's Music Center at 126 E. Water St. Tickets may also be purchased at the door. Tickets have been sold out in the past, so advance purchase is recommended. Suggested donation is $10, with a $5 minimum.

The public is invited to attend either performance and to experience this heartwarming event while at the same time assisting the community food pantry. United Methodist Church is located at 302 West Broadway, two blocks north of Water Street.

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