The Advent season is a time for joy in the light of God's gift of his son. In celebration, the Walla Walla University Department of Music offers numerous Christmas-themed concerts. Make plans to enjoy the upcoming events. 

The “Beck the Halls” Steel Band and Big Band concert will happen on Wednesday, December 11, at 7 p.m. in the Melvin K. West Fine Arts Center Auditorium. 

The Steel Band will perform Calypso/Soca tunes along with some Samba and Bossa Nova-style songs. They will play fun Christmas tunes as well with one of them featuring Michael Agidius as soloist on the Saxophone.

There will be a brief intermission with cookies and hot cider before the Big Band starts the second half of the program. The Big Band is being enhanced by a few generous community musicians to help return to the glory days of Michael Agidius' WWU Big Bands prior to the pandemic. The band will perform standards by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis along with exciting seasonal tunes featuring Celeste Kotanko and Maddie Stone as vocalists. Many of your favorite Christmas songs will be featured in this exciting evening of Caribbean-style music and swing. 

Brandon Beck directs both the Steel Band and the Big Band.

The annual WWU Music Department Christmas Concert is coming on Friday, December 13, at both 6 and 8 p.m. in the Walla Walla University Church. The 8 p.m. concert will be livestreamed. You can join the livestream at wallawalla.edu/concert. 

An annual gift from the WWU Department of Music, this concert is an invitation to reflect on God’s great gift of light given to us in his son. With the participation of University Singers and ICantori, and the Symphony Orchestra, the concert will include the world premiere performance of the “Magnificat”, a work composed by Andrew Jacobson for ICantori for this special occasion.

The University Church is located at 212 SW Fourth St., College Place.