Holiday Concert Offered on Dec. 4 Features Music and Dessert

The Fairmont State University School of Fine Arts will present a Holiday Concert at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 4, in Colebank Hall Gym. A dessert reception will begin at 7 p.m. Admission to the event is free and open to the public.

As a special addition to the musical selections, English actor/teacher Roger Jerome will present a 30-minute monologue as Charles Dickens. A member of both British and American Actors’ Equity Associations, Jerome is a graduate of the University of Birmingham, the University of Sussex and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England. An elementary teacher, actor and college lecturer in the U.K., Jerome came to the U.S. in 1988. Since then, he has taught at several colleges, has acted professionally and has devised a number of successful solo shows. Jerome has directed several college and community theatre productions and has been an Artist-in-Residence at Fairmont State.

Featured FSU ensembles from the Department of Music include the Collegiate Singers, the Chamber Choir, the Saxophone Quartet and the Percussion Ensemble. Selections will feature a variety of holiday music, including “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” the popular “Carol of the Bells,” the Hebrew folk song “Hine Ma Tov” and an African piece called “Betelehemu.” The evening’s festivities will conclude with a carol sing-a-long. 

The FSU Deans and Chairs are sponsoring a collection of new sweatshirts (especially sizes XL, 2X and 3X), toboggans, gloves, mittens, socks and toys for clients of the Soup Opera in Fairmont. Annually, the Soup Opera distributes Christmas gifts to more than 300 men, women and children with one of each of these items. Those who attend the Holiday Concert are asked to bring a new, unwrapped gift. Cash donations for the Soup Opera also will be accepted.

For more information about the event, contact Dr. Sam Spears at (304) 367-4118.

Sam SpearsCollegiate SingersChamber ChoirSaxophone QuartetSchool of Fine ArtsPercussion EnsembleRoger Jerome