Concert de Noël

In the midst of language school here in Albertville France, we had the opportunity to participate in a Christmas concert put on by the local church and in partnership with the local town Mayor and held Albertville’s concert hall.

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View of the 17th C. concert hall complete with scaling ceiling fresco.

It was a first for the church so we weren’t sure how many people would even come.  After months of planning, rehearsing and practicing the concert day came. The concert hall was almost filled (300-400) with an eager crowd, many of whom had heard about the concert by the many flyers put up around town:

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Michelle played an original piano arrangement of Carol of the Bells and also accompanied the other singers.  Michelle and our teammate Greg Sund accompanied a beautiful arrangement of Angels From The Realms Of Glory written by Dan Forest for 4 hand piano, cello and vocals.

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It was a 2 hour concert of both classical and contemporary Evangelical Christmas music. The concert had a warm reception and we were called back for two encores!

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The program…note the opening act after intermission (entracte)

Here is the group of musicians: 4 pianists, a cellist, percussionist, 3 vocalists,  a bass player, and a guitarist.

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The musicians before the performance

But the unsung heroes of the concert were the behind the scenes people, one of which was Carlan. He was assigned the job of doing all the lighting. This involved him climbing scaffolding and making his own filters for all the lights. Here he is working hard during one of the rehearsals.

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Carlan taking notes on lighting settings for songs

On the day of the concert, during the last rehearsal God answered prayer by providing a dress for Michelle to wear, lent by a kind member of the church, perfectly her size!

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Michelle in her purple dress & Carlan in his purple tie.

Thank you all for your prayers! It is so fun being a part of what God is doing here in this corner of the world! (Enjoy a 14 sec clip from backstage. We will link to more when it becomes available.)