Tickets are by donation at the door, with a recommended donation of $10 for adults, $5 for students, or $25 for a family.
The Community Choir has been presenting annual Christmas concerts for over 40 years and this year marks number 39 for the Barb Nelson and Vicki Blake Thompson duo!
Barb Nelson conducted the choir for 18 years and now is the accompanist. This is the 21st annual concert for current conductor Vicki Blake Thompson. For both, this is a work of love for the Bonners Ferry community, a way for all to celebrate the deeper meaning of Christmas.
This year's theme is three part: the cry of the people, the story itself, and the many images and traditions which have come to be a part of Christmas celebrations. Music includes new Christmas music as well as familiars like "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," "The Holly and the Ivy," "Mary Did You Know," and "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
An audience sing along includes "Silent Night", "Angels We Have Heard on High," "O Holy Night" and more. The music draws from a wide variety of styles and genres.
The choir's performances will be enhanced by the performance of Rosie Samter, who grew up in Bonners Ferry and is currently a professional viola player from Boston, Massachusetts.
Other instrumentalists will include Shirley Cameron from Creston, BC, and Jim Thompson, both on the EWI (electronic wind instrument), and a variety of percussionists drawn from the choir.
Diane Olsen, popular Bonners Ferry piano instructor, will play with Barb Nelson on three different four-hand piano pieces. Vocal soloists from the choir include India Kucherry, DJ Cruttenden, Si Thompson, Clarice McKenney, Stewart Yoder, Amy Stuermer, Rhea Verbanic, all from Bonners Ferry, Gail Southall, Creston, and Jim and Angie Hagen and Colleen Lewis, all of Sandpoint.