In the spirit of the holidays, the choral ensemble Essence of Joy will present a gift to the Penn State community, but don't expect any ribbons or bows.
Essence of Joy will perform its annual Our Gift in Song holiday concert at 8 tonight in Esber Recital Hall. Tickets are $4.99 for adults and $2 for students.
The concert, which has been the group's holiday tradition for 11 years, was created as a way for the choir to give back to the community in the form of performing a collection of Christmas songs, said Anthony Leach, choir director and associate professor of music.
In addition to presenting the gift of song to its audience, the group will be requesting donations. Any donated money will go toward financing the choir's tour of Asia scheduled for this May, Essence of Joy President Dave Ericson said.
The group's program will differ from a traditional Christmas repertoire and will include pieces from the Christmas cantata Born To Die, a gospel version of George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Ericson said. During the holiday concert last year, the group performed this cantata in its entirety, which Ericson said "blew people away."
"A lot of it is just deep, emotional stuff," Ericson (senior-elementary education) said. "It's a culmination of various praise and gospel-type music as well as some more spiritual music."
For group members graduating this year, tonight's show will be their final Christmas performance as part of Essence of Joy. Twenty of the group's 50 singers are seniors, Leach said.
"It makes me kind of bummed out that this is gonna be the end," Lauren Hoffman (senior-biobehavioral health) said. "I've met so many great people and had so many great experiences."
According to the group's Web site, the choir performs sacred and secular music from African/African-American traditions.
"Kids are getting more than a glimpse of African and African-American culture through our repertoires," Leach said.
Many choir members said performing this type of music has been a learning experience
"I grew up with traditional, slow music with an organ, and this music has more of a good feeling," Hoffman said.
Though the group has performed these songs in the past, this year's performance will commemorate the composer Glenn Burleigh, a friend of Leach's, who died in December 2007.
