Celebrate the season with 'Home for the Holidays'

Home for the Holidays: A Heidelberg Christmas truly will be a collaboration across the School of Music & Theatre and the community. The annual concert will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at the Ritz Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Home for the Holidays is a celebration of holiday traditions both new and old, featuring the sights, stories and songs of the season. The concert’s first act is a combination of the profound and playful with Heidelberg’s Concert Choir and University-Community Chorus, the Singing Collegians, theatre students and the Symphonic Band. The School of Music & Theatre will be joined by two guest performing ensembles, Tiffin Columbian’s Choristers, led by Dr. Greg Ramsdell, and a children’s choir from the Heidelberg Community Music School, led by Elizabeth Tracy, director of the CMS. The first act will culminate with a medley of popular, fun songs from 20th Century Fox Christmas movies such as A Charlie Brown Christmas,The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Christmas Vacation, Polar Express, White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life. The Christmas movie medley is a newly commissioned work by the School of Music & Theatre and will be premiered by the Symphonic Band, under the direction of Jon Waters.

For the second half of the concert, Heidelberg returns to a beloved and inspirational Christmas classic, Handel’s Messiah for its 126th performance. Various excerpts of Messiah will be performed, including the stirring Hallelujah Chorus. The ensembles will be joined by soloists Dr. Carol Dusdieker, Greg Ramsdell, and the husband and wife duo, Christopher and Ellen Scholl, both of whom are on the music faculty at Bowling Green State University.

Community members and Heidelberg alumni are invited to sing with the chorus for the Messiah portion of the performance. If interested, please contact Pat Page by Dec. 5 to reserve your seat on stage. Additionally, there will be a Christmas carol sing-along and the concert will conclude with Let There Be Peace on Earth.

Tickets are available at the Ritz Theatre. General admission tickets are $15, seniors 60 and over and Heidelberg employees are $10 and youth tickets (under 12) are $5. Student rush tickets are available 30 minutes prior to the concert at the Ritz Box Office. Visit ritztheatre.org to order tickets online or call the box office at 419-448-8544.