STL Concert Choir Presents

Just Say Merry Christmas

Tickets Now on Sale for Dec. 4th, 5th and 6th, 2009 Performances

By Jim Day

Over the past decade or more, U.S. media, schools and merchants have gradually and perhaps purposefully removed the use of the word “Christmas” from December holiday celebrations, concerts, sales and greetings. But the reality is that the holiday we celebrate is called Christmas! And for a very good reason! It’s the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. So, the St. Louis Concert Choir has stepped up to declare the simple suggestion this year, “Just Say Merry Christmas.” That is the title and the theme of the community choir’s annual December musical celebration.

This year, the St. Louis Concert Choir presents their annual Concert on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 4th, 5th and 6th, at a new venue, the Raymond E. Maritz Theatre on the campus of the Maritz Corporation in Fenton, Missouri. The production is a spectacular Christmas celebration for the whole 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 wonder of Christmas to all.

The St. Louis Concert Choir brings together a cast of over 100 of the metro area’s brightest and best singers, dancers, actors and kids to share the familiar songs of Christmas, the carols that we all love, the story of the Baby in the manger, and the delight that this holiday brings to young and old alike. Celebrating their thirteenth season together, the St. Louis Concert Choir, under the direction of veteran conductor, Bob Pickett, is a community choir of Christian musicians from all across the Greater St. Louis area. Representing nearly 30 different churches, the Choir rehearses monthly at Grace Church – St. Louis in Maryland Heights, MO. This enthusiastic group of dedicated and talented singers will join forces with the Ekklesia Dance Company and the Ekklesia Kids under the direction of choreographer, Christina McArthur Rongey, (known to many as the character Wonder Woman at Six Flags) to present a Concert of favorite Christmas music, old and new.

Just Say Merry Christmas will have something for everyone. The audience will have 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. The program also includes a ‘trip to Bethlehem’ to meet several eyewitnesses to the birth of Jesus, each one played by the talented actor/singer Ken Lee, sharing their insights from their unique encounters with the Savior. Then the audience will be treated to a live nativity scene.

Ken Lee, America’s premiere biblical actor, a resident of St. Charles, MO, is back with the Choir as special guest artist, member of The Three Tenors, and drama writer and director for the production. His ability to entertain and evoke laughter from an audience is legendary and this year will be no exception. For over 30 years, Mr. Lee has traveled the country presenting his one-man dramatic sketches of biblical characters with humor and power. He also conducts summer drama workshops in the St. Louis area, teaches classes at Missouri Baptist University and pastors a church in Lake St. Louis. Joining Mr. Lee again this season are two other powerful tenor vocalists and audience favorites, Brian Flanagan, soloist and songwriter from Florissant, MO, and Brian Brown, popular Nashville, TN vocalist and studio artist returning in his seventh appearance with the Choir. All will be featured in solo performances as well as joining forces as The Three Tenors.

Just Say Merry Christmas features a program of musical Christmas favorites from pop to carols, Broadway to traditional. 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 including Sleigh Ride, Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, Frosty the Snowman, O Holy Night and a powerful new song that is destined to become a classic Ring the Bells. The Ensemble will present a newly updated version of the audience favorite, Deck the Halls Through the Decades, portraying numerous American musical icons of the 20th century.

Returning this year is last Christmas’ surprise guest artist, soprano soloist, Kathey Spurr. Mrs. Spurr has experience as a university voice teacher, clinician and music director and has been featured in oratorios, operas, musicals and contemporary Christian concerts. She is the wife of legendary music producer, Thurlow Spurr, and lives in Orlando, FL.

Combine the talents of the Concert Choir and Ensemble, the Three Tenors whose powerful voices fill the house, and the graceful dance troupe from Ekklesia, the joyful vocals of the Brotherhood Men’s Chorus, the energetic Ekklesia Kids Chorus, Native American flutist Jim Mayhew (Ferguson, MO) and the live nativity and there’s more variety than one can handle. But there is more: this year’s production introduces a new group, the Four Divas, comprised of four powerful sopranos: Kathey Spurr, Lisa Rogerson (Florissant, MO), Cindy Henley (Bridgeton, MO) and Mary Thurman (O’Fallon, IL).

Just Say Merry Christmas will be presented four times at the beautiful Raymond E. Maritz Theatre on the campus of the Maritz Corporation, at Interstate 44 and Boles Avenue in Fenton, MO. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday, December 4th, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 5th, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, December 6th. Audiences will be excited to know that because of sellout crowds the past several years that a Friday performance has been added to this year’s calendar. There is ample free parking and tickets are available by calling (800) 993-SING (7464), or by contacting any member of the Choir. Special ‘Maestro Circle’ tickets are available this year, which includes prime seating and a backstage reception following the performance where ticket holders can meet the director and guest artists in person. Singers interested in joining this on-going community choir are invited to contact Mr. Pickett at (636) 288-1608.

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 37th season of presenting concerts in Michigan and Ohio. Involved in more than just making music, in 2005 and 2006, CMI took a team of volunteers to the Bahamas to give practical help to victims of the numerous hurricanes that pummeled the island nation. In July 2003 CMI 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 and 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. This past May the choir again participated in the St. Louis event for the Global Day of Prayer at Chaifetz Arena as a part of a citywide mass choir.

Bob Pickett, founder, producer and director of the Choir, has conducted choirs across the USA for over 35 years, traveling for six years and conducting 2000 concerts with the Festival of Praise Choir, directing the Grace Choir and GraceSingers at Grace Church St. Louis for twelve 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. In 2007 he served as assistant director and musical coordinator for a grand union of 50 former members of the championship vocal ensemble, The Everett Chorale, representing nine graduating classes at Everett High School (Lansing, MI) for a retreat and packed out concert to honor their mentor, Tom Oakley Thompson, in a real-life Mr. Holland’s Opus experience. In May of this year he conducted the city-wide mass choir for the Global Day of Prayer event at the Chaifetz Arena on the campus of St. Louis University, and will again serve in that capacity on May 23, 2010, directing the mass choir and a city-wide choir of 100 trumpets. He currently serves as Associate Pastor and choir director at Grace Church.

In addition to the Concert Choir and the guest artists, Just Say Merry Christmas also features soloists Tracy King (Maryland Heights, MO), Venita McCloud (St. Louis, MO), Jerome Rogers (Alorton, IL), Lesley Bridges (Sullivan, MO), Terry Lolling (O’Fallon, MO), Joe Tolan (Florissant, MO), Kathleen Shaefer (Kirkwood, MO), Madeline Williams (St. Charles, MO), Bob Senical (Lake St. Louis, MO) and Ona Vititoe (Foristell, MO).