– Christmas Special Features Many of the Season’s Best-Loved Songs –

Ring in the holiday season with the acclaimed choirs of the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota with A ST. THOMAS CHRISTMAS 2010, a one-hour holiday special presented by Twin Cities Public Television and distributed to public television stations nationwide by American Public Television. This special holiday celebration airs on WTVP-Public Media for Central Illinois on Christmas Eve—Sunday, Dec. 25th from 9-10 p.m. on WTVP-HD.

A University of St. Thomas tradition spanning more than two decades, this annual concert will be performed in the acclaimed acoustics of Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis. The concert features seven of the university’s vocal and instrumental ensembles in a program of choral and instrumental music for the Advent and Christmas seasons.

St. Thomas’ Christmas concert quickly became tradition after its first performance on Dec. 11, 1988. Today, the concert showcases the excellence of the St. Thomas music program. This year’s program of choral and instrumental music features nearly 300 student musicians including the Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, Festival Choir, Liturgical Choir, Women’s Choir, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Brass Choir and Handbell Choir.

“The whole St. Thomas community is so proud of these students and very pleased to be sharing with people across the nation the joy of Christmas through music,” said Dr. Marisa Kelly, dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The concert theme “All My Heart This Night Rejoices,” was inspired by a song selection from the program with the same name. According to Angela Broeker, director of choral activities, “We love the beauty of the song and the text: All my heart, all this night rejoices./As I hear far and near sweetest angel voices, ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo.’/All the air, and everywhere, ‘Gloria.’”

Concert-goers will be treated to the best in sacred music for the season, including traditional favorites such as “O Holy Night” and “Hark! The Herald-Angels Sing” and Hispanic carols “Convidando esta la noche” and “Los Reyes Magos,” in addition to several modern pieces.

Dianne Steinbach, tpt’s Executive Producer for Arts & Cultural Production, says, “The Midwest has long been known for its outstanding choral tradition and tpt has a distinguished history of producing holiday choral music programs for national audiences; we’re delighted to partner again with the University of St. Thomas to bring this beautiful and inspiring concert to people’s homes.”

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About The University of St. Thomas
St. Thomas, a Catholic university, is Minnesota’s largest private college or university, enrolling nearly 11,000 students on campuses in Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Owatonna, Minnesota, and Rome, Italy. Its music program is part of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences and is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music and offers a bachelor’s-level majors in music, liturgical music, music business, music education and music performance. The department also offers minors in music, popular music and electronic music production. Keyboard and guitar studies programs also are available, as are graduate programs in music education, drawing music educators from across the nation.

About tpt
Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) produces original television productions for national, regional and statewide broadcast and is among the primary content producers for the public television system. tpt amplifies its reach and impact through innovative websites, educational outreach programs and community engagement initiatives. Programs include the Emmy Award-winning specials The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer’s and Benjamin Franklin; the Peabody Award-winning Depression: Out of the Shadows as well as the Academy Award-nominated documentary Hoop Dreams. tpt’s science series include the Emmy-winning Newton’s Apple; DragonflyTV and SciGirls. Recent notable national broadcasts include Through a Dog’s Eyes, based on the best-selling book and Dolley Madison for the American Experience series. In addition, tpt has presented highly produced Christmas music specials for national audiences for more than 20 years: Christmas at Concordia (2009), A St. Thomas Christmas (2008), Christmas at Luther (2008), Christmas at St. Olaf (1979-2007), A St. Olaf Christmas in Norway (‘06), Bethel University Festival of Christmas (‘06) and The Augsburg College Vespers Celebration (‘04). tpt’s productions and presentations for APT include the travel series Rudy Maxa’s World; Make: the DIY series for a new generation; the personal finance series Right on the Money with Chris Farrell; and Health Diary with Siobhan Cleary. One of the nation’s leading public television stations, tpt is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Additional information is available at tpt.org and tpt.org/national.

About American Public Television
American Public Television (APT) has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated programming to America’s public television stations since 1961. In 2009, APT distributed 56 of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies, including For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots, A Ripple of Hope Rick Steves’ Europe, Newsline, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Lidia’s Italy, P.Allen Smith’s Garden Home, Murdoch Mysteries, Doc Martin, Rosemary and Thyme, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, The Great American Songbook and John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched Create® – the TV channel featuring the best of public television’s lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in the WORLD channel expansion project, including its web presence at WORLDcompass.org (This website has formatting issues in Internet Explorer). For more information about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org.

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