The annual Catholic University of America Christmas Concert for Charity will be held Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington, D.C.
The concert will feature performances by students and faculty from CUA’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Performing Arts.
A longtime Christmas tradition, the concert draws standing-room-only crowds each year and raises thousands of dollars for a designated charity through free-will offerings. This year’s beneficiary is Holy Family parish, the only Catholic parish in Gaza.
The concert program will include music from the professional Repertory Chorus – conducted by graduate and undergraduate sacred music students – which will perform Antonio Vivaldi’s Magnificat (RV 610). The soloists will be CUA vocal performance students.
The Chamber Choir will make its Christmas concert debut under the direction of Peter Kadeli, head of sacred music and director of choral activities, while the University Chorus will perform Christmas carols and sacred works.
Maestro Simeone Tartaglione will conduct Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 8, Mvt. III, and student Aidan Feeny will conduct Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Greensleeves.
The concert also will feature a composition by CUA professor Andrew Earle Simpson performed by Michelle Cho, on the woodwind faculty at the Rome School.
The concert will be taped live by EWTN and aired on Dec. 17 at 3 p.m.; Dec. 20 at 10 p.m.; Dec. 21 at 1:30 p.m.; Dec. 24 at 4 p.m.; and Jan. 1 at 3 p.m.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is located at 400 Michigan Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., convenient to the Brookland-CUA Red Line Metro stop. There is also ample free parking.
