Dean Michael Sitton conducts the audience, along with the Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra, at the annual Crane Candlelight Concerts.
More than 250 student and faculty musicians from SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will join together on Sunday, Dec. 3 to celebrate the holiday season, with the 2017 Crane Candlelight Concerts.
The Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Jeffrey Francom and Kenneth Andrews, will present two performances on Sunday, Dec. 3, at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Both concerts will be offered in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall.
Each year, the Crane School of Music holiday celebration is taped live for a nationally syndicated broadcast by WPBS TV, in a major highlight of the Crane concert season. The holiday concert tradition began in the 1930s at what was then the Crane Institute of Music at Potsdam Normal School, and has continued to grow in prominence ever since.
This year, the concerts will also feature soprano Colleen Skull and baritone Jonathan Stinson, as well as several works performed in memory of Dr. Rebecca Reames and Dr. Heather Eyerly, Crane choral faculty members who passed away in 2017.
SUNY Potsdam and The Crane School of Music invite you to join us for this family-friendly event. While both concerts are free, audience members are invited to bring a donation of canned goods or non-perishable items to benefit area food pantries.
Donations to support the Crane Chorus Endowment will also be accepted at the door, or can be given online, by visiting securegiving.potsdam.edu/giving, and indicating “Crane Chorus Endowment.”
The 2017 Crane Candlelight Concerts will feature new takes on classic carols, including “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and “I Wonder as I Wander.” Listeners are sure to enjoy “Let Us All Be Merry” by Barlow Bradford, a celebratory piece that presents a new perspective on the traditional sounds of the holidays.
Composers Shawn Kirchner, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Mack Wilberg, Kenneth H. Lampl and Kim André Arnesen will also be featured this year. In celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, Mendelssohn’s “Vom Himmel Hoch” will also be performed, with faculty soloists, chorus and orchestra.
The Crane Candlelight Concert evening performance will also be broadcast live on The Crane School of Music YouTube channel, at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 3. To watch these and other Crane concerts live online, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/streaming.
Want to experience past performances as well? WPBS Digital Television has once again syndicated past Crane Candlelight Concerts to present throughout the U.S. and Canada this holiday season.
In the North Country, WPBS TV, which produces the syndicated broadcasts, will present the 2016 Crane Candlelight Concert, “Laude!,” with three broadcasts in December, plus one airing of the 2015 performance, “Brightest and Best.”
The WPBS broadcast schedule is as follows:
- Monday, Dec. 11 at 9 p.m.: “Laude!”
- Monday, Dec. 11 at 10 p.m.: “Brightest and Best”
- Sunday, Dec. 24 at 2:30 p.m.: “Laude!”
- Monday, Dec. 25 at 5 p.m.: “Laude!”
To see previous Crane Candlelight Concerts online, visit http://www.pbs.org/show/crane-candlelight-concert/.
For more information about SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.
Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution.
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