Schedule for Festival of Lights

The schedule for the Festival of Lights at the Washington DC Temple Visitor Center is online.  Click here to download a copy.

Here is a listing of the performances:

Schedule of Nightly Musical Performances
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016–SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2017

DECEMBER
1 Thursday Potomac River Suzuki Strings 7 & 8:30 p.m.
2 Friday Chinese Potomac Children’s Choir 7 & 8:30 p.m.
3 Saturday The Young Columbians—Singers & Dancers 7 & 8:30 p.m.
4 Sunday Melinda Baird & Shaundra Baird Culatta—Pianist & Violinist 6:30 p.m.
First Presidency Devotional Broadcast from Salt Lake City 8:00 p.m.
5 Monday Bells of Mt. Vernon—Hand Bell Choir 7 & 8:30 p.m.
6 Tuesday Suzuki Association of the Greater Washington Area Flutists 7 & 8:30 p.m.
7 Wednesday Los Parranderos—Puerto Rican Christmas 7 & 8:30 p.m.
8 Thursday Lords & Ladies of McDonough High School—Madrigal Choir 7 & 8:30 p.m.
9 Friday Capital Carillon Bell Choir 7 & 8:30 p.m.
10 Saturday Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. 7 & 8:30 p.m.
11 Sunday Washington D.C. Temple Orchestra 7 & 8:30 p.m.
12 Monday Janelle C. Parker—Singer—The Three Levels of Christmas 7 & 8:30 p.m.
13 Tuesday A Calypso Christmas—with D.C. Temple Orchestra percussionists 7 & 8:30 p.m.
14 Wednesday Olney Concert Band 7 & 8:30 p.m.
15 Thursday Bernadette & Winston Charles & Special Guests—Glorify His Name 7 & 8:30 p.m.
16 Friday Sundwall Family—Singers 7 & 8:30 p.m.
17 Saturday Gina Ling Chinese Dance Chamber 7 & 8:30 p.m.
18 Sunday Todd Thatcher & Tony Favero—Vocalist & Pianist 7 & 8:30 p.m.
19 Monday Sandra Turley—Singer & Performer 7 & 8:30 p.m.
20 Tuesday Trifecta—A Holiday Jazz Trio 7 & 8:30 p.m.
21 Wednesday Harbor City Music Company—Sweet Adelines Show Chorus 7 & 8:30 p.m.
22 Thursday Polynesian Community—Singers & Dancers 7 & 8:30 p.m.
23 Friday The Olney Big Band—directed by Dr. Robert Tennyson 7 & 8:30 p.m.
24 Saturday Washington D.C. South Missionaries & Institute Choir 7 & 8:30 p.m.
25 Sunday Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center Sister Missionaries 7 & 8:30 p.m.
26 Monday Christmas in Japanese Style—Fun, Gifted Japanese Musicians 7 & 8:30 p.m.
27 Tuesday Jessica & Katelyn Lyons—Violinists Extraordinaire 7 & 8:30 p.m.
28 Wednesday Pickwick Players—Singers 7 & 8:30 p.m.
29 Thursday Baxter Family—A Bluegrass Christmas 7 & 8:30 p.m.
30 Friday McLean Stake Hand Bell Choir 7 & 8:30 p.m.
31 Saturday Carla Ririe Dance—International Dance Academy 7 & 8:30 p.m.

JANUARY
1 Sunday Marvin Goldstein & Vanessa Joy—Pianist & Vocalist 7:00 p.m.

Announcement for Mormon Choir of Washington Concerts

The Mormon Choir of Greater Washington will be presenting Christmas concerts on December 10 and 11.

Announcement for Annandale Stake Messiah Sing Along

This year the Annandale/DC Stake Messiah Sing Along will be held in the Annandale Stake Center on December 4 from 6:30pm to 7:45pm.  The address is located at 3900 Howard Street, Annandale, VA 22003.  Afterwards, those wishing to attend the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional can view the broadcast beginning at 8:00pm.

Announcement for Interfaith Christmas Concert

Interfaith Christmas Concert

Come join the Centreville, VA Stake in welcoming other faiths to join together with us in sharing our faith in Christ at the Christmas season through this uplifting hymn sing. Choirs from several churches will be performing. Felipe Dominguez and Valerie Harris will be providing the organ accompaniment for the congregational hymn sing. This is an opportunity to develop understanding and goodwill amongst our faiths by celebrating our commonality of worship through music. Let’s celebrate what unites us – music, faith and joy! It will be held on Sunday, December 4, 2016 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the stake center chapel. At 7:30 p.m., we will share refreshments and then watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional broadcast at 8:00 p.m. Please invite friends and neighbors to join you in singing Christmas carols together at this event. This is a great event for inviting your non-member or less active friends. The Centreville VA Stake Center is located at 14150 Upperridge Drive, Centreville, VA 20121.

For more information, contact Valerie Harris at valerie_f_harris@yahoo.com.

Download the flyer and invitation here.

Report on Conducting Workshop

The Washington DC Stake Conducting Workshop took place from 9am to 12pm on Saturday, September 24, 2016, at the Washington DC Stake Center.  The workshop was sponsored by the Washington DC Stake but an open invitation was issued to any interested attendees from surrounding stake.  Attendance by stake resulted in the following distribution.

3, Annandale VA

6, Ashburn VA

2, Centreville VA

1, McLean VA

2, Mount Vernon VA

24, Washington DC

2, Winchester VA

To begin the workshop, President James Baird, Washington DC Stake President, conducted an opening exercises in the chapel.  President Baird related his vision and testimony about the importance of music in our spiritual growth in the gospel by sharing some of his personal experiences with music.  Sister Baird followed by sharing her testimony and then dismissed the participants to the sessions after informing them about logistics.

Classes were held in the Relief Society Room and the Multipurpose Room.  Two parallel sessions were held with two hour-long workshops per session.  Our four qualified instructors were Melinda Baird (Washington DC Stake, Rockville Ward), Rebecca Green (Washington DC Stake, Kensington Ward), David Hardin (Annandale VA Stake, Fairfax Ward), and Helen Horton (Washington DC Stake, Kensington Ward).  The two pianists who served as accompanists during each session were Paul Andreason (Washington DC Stake, Rockville Ward) and Robyn Rowley (Washington DC Stake, Kensington Ward).

The presenters were kind to share their handouts online.  The outlines are available for download in the Music Directors Tab on the DC LDS Music Resources website at http://dcldsmusic.blogspot.com/.  The titles of the four workshops were as follows:

Advanced Music Conducting, Rebecca Green

Beginning Music Conducting, Melinda Baird

Conducting Presence, Helen Horton

Conducting Choirs, David Hardin

Including the instructors and accompanists, a total of 40 people participated in the workshop.  26 attendees registered online beforehand, and 14 attendees were walk-ins.  Of the registered attendees, 5 identified themselves as novice music conductors, 6 as intermediate, and 8 as advanced.

After the sessions, the participants ate some prepared lunch as they mingled and shared notes.  Overall, everyone felt that the workshop was successfully and should be repeated in the future.  A survey was given, in which some additional topics and suggestions for improvement were recommended for future workshops.  We are grateful to Melinda Baird and the instructors for preparing fine presentations and for serving as the organizing committee for the workshop.  We look forward to having you in a future conducting workshop.