SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music Hosts Traditional Candlelight Concert on Sunday, Nov. 24, to be Filmed & Broadcast by Mountain Lake PBS
Ricky Chui '25 smiles during a rehearsal for the 2024 Crane Candlelight Concert.
Nearly 300 student and faculty musicians from SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will kick off the holiday season on Sunday, Nov. 24, with the 2024 Crane Candlelight Concert. This year’s concert will sprinkle in favorite melodies from holiday films and television specials, alongside classic hymns and works, for a nostalgic and festive performance.
SUNY Potsdam and The Crane School of Music invite the public to join for this free family-friendly event. The performance will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24, in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall, and will also stream live online. A reception will follow in the Hosmer Lobby, for all to enjoy.
“The Crane Candlelight Concert is a tradition that asks us to find peace and belonging in traditions old and new. We hope this year’s performance inspires audiences far and near once again this year,” said Crane School of Music Interim Dean Dr. David Heuser.
The Crane Candlelight Concert will open with the Crane Brass Ensemble performing Anthony DiLorenzo’s “Christmas ‘Toons,” a nostalgic medley of songs from favorite holiday stop-motion and animated features, such as “The Grinch,” “Rudolph” and “Frosty the Snowman.” The ensemble will also perform an arrangement of Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium,” set to a Gregorian chant written for a Christmas vigil.
The Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra will join forces for a setting of the Spanish carol, “Buenos Reyes,” by Edmund Walters, followed by the tune “Walking in the Air” from the animated classic, “The Snowman.” The Crane Concert Choir will present Katerina Gimon’s “Come Back Like the Sea,” set to Sara Teasdale’s poem “Ebb Tide.”
The Crane Symphony Orchestra will follow, with the “Troika” movement from Sergei Prokofiev’s “Lieutenant Kijé: Suite Op. 60,” recognizable with its use of sleigh bells to convey a winter’s ride on a Russian three-horse sled. The piece was originally written for the film of the same name.
The Hosmer Choir will then present Stephen Paulus’s “The Road Home,” which was inspired by a Southern folk song and describes the yearning to return after being lost.
The Crane Chorus and Symphony Orchestra will retake the Hosmer stage for the final two pieces, beginning with the “Christmas Carol Main Titles” by Alan Silvestri, from the 2009 film remake of “A Christmas Carol,” followed by “Three Holiday Songs” from “Home Alone” by John Williams.
The annual Crane School of Music holiday celebration performances are 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.
Mountain Lake PBS will film the Candlelight Concert once again for a nationally syndicated public television broadcast. The full holiday schedule for the broadcast of this year’s concert will soon be released.
The Crane Candlelight Concert will also be broadcast live on YouTube at the concert time. To view the program and see the performance, visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.
About The Crane School of Music:
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 and was one of the first Yamaha Institutions of Excellence. For more information, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.
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