St. Luke's Singers Perform Annual Holiday Concert on Sunday, December 7
Proceeds to Benefit St. Luke's MRI Program
BETHLEHEM, PA. (11/14/2008) – Seventy voices raised in harmony and joy to celebrate the Christmas holiday season will fill the air at the St. Luke's Singers annual Christmas concert in early December.
The St. Luke's Singers is the only hospital-based choir in Eastern Pennsylvania and annually performs a winter holiday and spring concert. This year's holiday concert will be held at 3 pm on Sunday, December 7 at the First Presbyterian Church, 2344 Center St., Bethlehem. An instrumental prelude will begin at 2:45 pm.
A snow date has been scheduled for Wednesday, December 17 with a prelude at 6:45 pm and the concert at 7 pm.
St. Luke's Singers in Practice
The group practices from September through June and performs two concerts each year.
Sound Systems for Two MRI Bays
Proceeds from the show will be utilized to purchase two high-quality sound systems for two MRI bays at St. Luke's Hospital - Bethlehem Campus. The new systems will allow patients undergoing MRI studies to relax to music while being able to hear the radiology technologists' instructions. Being able to listen to music is a wonderful diversion to patients, especially if the person feels uneasy about being in a confined space for the 45 minutes usually needed to perform MRI studies, according to Don Norder, RN, CRN, Director of Imaging Services at St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network.
Theme "We Sing...of Christmas"
According to director Floyd Schlegel, the concert's theme is WE SING… of Christmas. An instrumental prelude will begin at 2:45 pm. Participating as instrumentalists in this event will be Jack Goodman, organ, Debbie Glick and Melissa Lambert, flutes; Dr. Robert Hunsicker and Alan Babp, trumpets; Craig Fabian and Todd Fennell, trombones; and Lina Huett, percussion. The accompanists, Barbara Abel and Lina Huett, will play a piano duo setting of excerpts from The Nutcracker Suite. A highlight each year is the singing of traditional carols sung by the audience, accompanied by keyboard instruments and brass. Mr. Schlegel has been directing the Singers for 16 years.
The St. Luke's Singers is comprised of St. Luke's physicians, nurses and other employees as well as volunteers from as many as fourteen Lehigh Valley communities. Since its founding in 1991, membership has increased from 33 to 70 members. Schlegel, retired choral director at Nazareth Senior High School and minister of music at St. John's United Church, Nazareth, has been choir director since 1993. The group practices every Wednesday evening from September through June and performs two concerts each year. The spring concert will be held at 3 pm on Sunday, May 17, 2008.
Celebrating its seventeenth anniversary, the primary mission of the St. Luke's Singers is to raise funds to help support projects and services at St. Luke's for the benefit of patients in need of treatment and care. The St. Luke's Singers have raised more than $162,252 as of May 2008 for various St. Luke's recipients.