For almost three-quarters of a century, the Holiday Festival has thrilled Boulder audiences and ushered in the beginning of the holiday season. We looked into the history of the festival and found some fun facts that give some context to this merry tradition.
The name
Since the earliest archived performance in 1945, the College of Music鈥檚 beloved December tradition has gone by three different names: 鈥淭he Festival of Christmas,鈥� simply 鈥淭he Festival,鈥� and starting in the 1990s, the 鈥淗oliday Festival鈥� as we know it today.
The performers and locales
Over the past several years, roughly 300 students have performed in the concert, making four different locations at Macky Auditorium into their own festive stages: The stage itself, the aisles, the second-floor loge and opera boxes, and the gallery entrance to the auditorium.
The program
They鈥檝e performed works ranging from traditional Christmas carols to songs sung during Hanukkah to songs that mark the celebration of life Kwanzaa, but the most-performed work over the past 75 years has been 鈥淪ilent Night鈥� (followed closely by Handel鈥檚 鈥淢essiah鈥�!).
