Concert Choir Presents the Christmas
Musical A Family Christmas December 4th

Christmas is a time when families gather together to celebrate, to exchange gifts and to remember the important moments of life. The St. Louis Concert Choir has crafted a Christmas celebration for the entire family. Employing beautiful choral and solo music, elegant dance, joyful children, creative staging, dramatic storytelling, and state-of-the-art sound and lighting, this year’s annual Christmas production is designed to warm every heart and bring the joy of Christmas to all. The St. Louis Concert Choir brings together a cast of over 80 of the metro area’s brightest and best singers, dancers, actors and kids for two performances of A Family Christmas on Saturday, December 4th, A Family Christmas will be presented two times in the beautiful new Pillsbury Chapel in the Dale Williams Fine Arts Center on the campus of Missouri Baptist University, at Mason Road and US highway 40 in west Saint Louis County.

Formed in the fall of 1996, the St. Louis Concert Choir, under the direction of veteran conductor, Bob Pickett, is a community choir of Christian musicians from all across the St. Louis area. Representing nearly 30 different churches, the Choir rehearses monthly at Grace Church - Saint Louis in Maryland Heights. This enthusiastic group of dedicated and talented singers will join forces with the Ekklesia Contemporary Dance Company and the Ekklesia Kids under the direction of choreographer, Christina McArthur, to present a concert of favorite Christmas music, old and new.

Featuring some of the great Christmas songs of all time including popular standards, Christmas carols in new settings, and some wonderful new songs. A Family Christmas will have something for everyone. As the audience has a chance to reflect on their favorite Christmas memories, they will laugh and cheer, nod in agreement and perhaps shed a tear, and sing along with the Choir on thrilling arrangements of music that touch the heart. There will be a humorous drama portraying a family to whom Christmas seems too busy and there will be a powerful reminder of the true reason for the Christmas season, a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and a living nativity scene.

Audiences will be treated to the vocal and dramatic talents of America’s premiere biblical actor, Ken Lee. Mr. Lee, a resident of St. Charles, MO, is back with the Choir as a special guest artist, member of The Three Tenors, dramatic director and writer for the production. His ability to entertain and evoke laughter from an audience is legendary and his new characters will once again succeed in bringing cheer and truth to the heart of many in the audience. For 30 years, Mr. Lee has traveled the country presenting his one-man dramatic portrayals of biblical characters with humor and power and he also conducts summer drama workshops in the St. Louis area through his Logos School.

Joining Mr. Lee are two other powerful tenor vocalists, Brian Flanagan, soloist and songwriter from Florissant, MO, and Rusty Watson, gospel soloist, recording artist, clinician, and music producer from Oakland, CA. Rusty was raised in St. Louis and developed a quality reputation in the area through his performances in gospel concerts, the Black Repertory Theatre, singing the national anthem at Busch Stadium on Cardinals’ Opening Day, and producing gospel recordings. Mr. Watson has toured with Andre’ Crouch, Daryl Coley and the Walter Hawkins Singers, as well as Earth, Wind and Fire in 1987 and New Kids on the Block in 1990. Rusty appears across the country and around the world, in gospel music workshops as a teacher and clinician and currently is Worship Leader and Psalmist for Bishop Walter Hawkins and the Love Center Ministries Church in northern California. Mr. Watson will be featured in several gospel style solos and with the Three Tenors.

A Family Christmas features a program of musical Christmas favorites including songs recorded on the group’s last two albums, Exceeding Great Joy! and Christmas: A Timeless Treasure, and new material created for this production. These lush musical settings mix contemporary and classical styles to provide the timeless nature of the Christmas celebration. The St. Louis Concert Choir, along with the Concert Choir Ensemble, the Ekklesia Kids, and the Brotherhood men’s chorus are all featured on the program, singing classic carols and standards which will include Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Sleigh Ride, The Christmas Waltz, We Three Kings, O Holy Night, Deck the Halls, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Una Fiesta Navida, and the stirring You Raise Me Up.

Combine the talents of the Concert Choir and Ensemble, the Three Tenors - whose powerful voices will fill the house, and the graceful dance troupe from Ekklesia, the rich vocals of the Brotherhood men’s chorus, the energetic 25 Ekklesia Kids chorus, the actors from the Logos drama school, and there’s more variety than one can handle.

In addition to the Concert Choir and the guest artists, the concert also features soloists Joylene Anderson (Florissant), Lisa Rogerson (St. Louis), Jerome Rogers (Alorton), Lesley Bridges (St. Clair), Suzie Causey (Chesterfield), Joe Tolan (Collinsville), Lowell Ardenreith (Ballwin) and Debbie Ross (Wright City).

A Family Christmas will be presented two times at the beautiful new Pillsbury Chapel at the Dale Williams Fine Arts Center on the campus of Missouri Baptist University, at Mason Road and US highway 40 in west Saint Louis County. Curtain times are 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 4th. There is ample free parking. Tickets are available by calling (800) 993-SING (7464), or by contacting any member of the Choir. Singers interested in joining this on-going community choir are invited to contact Mr. Pickett at (636) 926-0701.

The St. Louis Concert Choir is a project of Concert Ministries, Inc., of Orlando, Florida, and one of America’s foremost Christian producers, Thurlow Spurr. Concert Ministries Inc. (CMI) has sponsored similar Choirs in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, New York, and New Jersey, and is in their 32nd season of presenting concerts in Michigan and Ohio. In July 2003 CMI, Spurr and Pickett put together a team of 250 singers and musicians from across the country and across the Island State - including several members of the St. Louis Concert Choir - to travel to Hawaii to present a patriotic concert with famed inspirational recording artist, Larnelle Harris, at the Waikiki Shell. In 2000, the team traveled to Jerusalem to present the musical David - A Man After God’s Own Heart in the historic Citadel of David on the wall of the Old City of Jerusalem. At the invitation of the Bethlehem city council, they also presented a concert entitled Christmas in June in Manger Square - the historic site of Christ’s birth - to help mark that city’s year-long celebration of the 2000th Anniversary of Jesus’ birth. The St. Louis Concert Choir was birthed out of a similar tour in 1996 featuring 600 singers and many of America’s top Christian recording artists.

Bob Pickett, founder, producer and director of the Choir, has conducted Choirs across the USA for over 30 years, traveling for six years and conducting 2000 concerts with the Festival of Praise Choir, directing the Grace Choir and Grace Singers at Grace Church - Saint Louis for seven years, and rehearsing and organizing the 200-voice choirs for performances of The Young Messiah Tour and The Emmanuel Tour, and the ensemble for The My Utmost for His Highest Tour, as they appeared in St. Louis at the Kiel Center, the Arena, and Riverport Amphitheater. In 2004 he was guest conductor at his alma mater for the Heidelberg College Alumni Choir and co-director of the St. Louis Worship Choir for the National Day of Prayer Concert of Prayer television broadcast. He currently serves as Associate Pastor at Grace Church.