BAR HARBOR — The Acadia Choral Society will perform its annual Christmas concert on Saturday Dec. 3 and Sunday, Dec. 4 at St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church in Bar Harbor. The program, titled “As the Prophets Foretold,” explores the Nativity story and its meaning for people today.

Jamie Hagedorn directs the chorus, and Julia Morris-Myers is the accompanist.

The concert includes music in a variety of styles on the prophecies of Isaiah, the Virgin Mary, the angels, the birth of Christ, the shepherds, and the Wise Men. Traditional carols are featured alongside familiar concert favorites by Mendelssohn and Handel, and contemporary works by John Rutter, Morten Lauridsen and others.

Glenn Rudolph’s “The Dream Isaiah Saw” is a setting of Thomas Troeger’s poem “Lion and Oxen Will Sleep in the Hay.” It is dedicated to those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and expresses the hope that ancient prophecies of peace can yet be fulfilled.

Mr. Lauridsen is one of the choristers’ favorite composers. His “Ave Maria” and “O magnum mysterium” are beautiful examples of his ethereal yet dramatic style, a chorus spokesman said, adding that John Rutter’s “Angels’ Carol,” “Christmas Lullaby,” “Shepherds’ Pipe Carol,” and “Star Carol” are tuneful and spirit-filled expressions of the season.

The concert concludes with the “Hallelujah Chorus,” followed by a carol sing-a-long that has become a tradition at Acadia Choral Society holiday concerts.

This year there will be a “bonus sing-a-long” before intermission, with audience participation in Joseph Martin’s setting of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.”

Performances are Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $10 for students and senior citizens, and $35 for a family. They can be purchased at Sherman’s Books & Stationery in Bar Harbor, at the Northeast Harbor Library, the Southwest Harbor Public Library, and the SevenArts gallery in Ellsworth in the Maine Grind building. Tickets also available from chorus members.

For more information, visit www.acadiachoralsociety.org.

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