The Concert Choir of Howard Payne University will present a program of Christmas music Friday, December 4, at 7:30 PM in the Sanctuary of First Baptist Church. The program will feature arrangements of familiar carols such as “Silent Night” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” as well as settings of well-known Christmas texts such as “There Is No Rose,” “Ave Maria,” and “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.”

The concert will also feature of variety of guest accompaniments and student soloists. Mr. Lance Beaumont, Assistant Professor of Music, will accompany the choir on guitar. Mr. Stephen Goacher, Professor of Music, will play oboe on three selections. Emily Clarkson, a current HPU student, will accompany the choir on harp. Current choir members Chris Bell, Julia Hironaga, and Tabitha Livingston will also accompany at the piano. Dr. Allen Reed, Professor of Music, will also accompany on piano and organ.

Monte Garrett, Associate Professor of Music, joined the faculty as Director of Choral Activities at Howard Payne University in 2001. He earned both the Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Music from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, and has completed the coursework for the Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting at the University of Texas at Austin. He has done additional study at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth and The Conductor’s Institute at Southwestern University in Georgetown. He has conducted several region/honor choirs. In the summers of 2005 and 2009, he directed the Texas Baptist All-State Youth Choir. Prior to his appointment at Howard Payne, he served as Choral Director at Cisco Junior College.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Photo courtesy Dumas Photography