Strauss, II – Overture to Die Fledermaus

Arr. Shaw – Many Moods of Christmas, Suite 1

Adler – Feast of Lights from The Hanukkah Suite

Arr. Ceruli – Christmas Carol Sing Along

Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite

The Grand Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Andrea Runnels, will join the symphony in two works – Shaw’s wildly popular setting of Christmas Carols in his Many Moods of Christmas Suite 1, and Samuel Adler’s setting of emotional Hanukkah music in his Feast of Lights. Each year the audience joins in heartfelt harmony in our Christmas Carol Sing Along.

The second half of this program features the most famous of holiday orchestral works, Tchaikovsky’s suite from The Nutcracker. This is a must-see event for families and friends at this special time of year.

Andrea Runnels is the Coordinator of Choirs for Schreiner University. She holds a Bachelors of Choral Music Education from Texas Christian University and a Masters and Ph.D in Choral Music Education and Fine Arts from Texas Tech University. Prior to her appointment to Schreiner, Dr. Runnels’ music career spanned 20 years throughout Texas where she began her career teaching elementary and secondary music, choral conducting for schools and churches throughout. Her experiences include working with renowned choral conductors such as Lara Hoggard, Ron Shirey and John Rutter. She was frequently invited to sing under Skitch Hendricks and perform with the New York Pops Concerts for over a decade. Runnels is known for her ability to connect school, community, and university choirs to create festivals and choirs to perform major works they ordinarily could not accomplish by themselves. In addition to teaching music, directing choir, leading clinics and conducting choirs, Runnels has also had an extensive career in sacred music, where she has served in various churches across the state in conjunction to her teaching assignments. Runnels is also an active music education researcher and presenter who specializes in sightreading techniques and best practices.