Chimes of Christmas ring in holiday season

Making their way through the cold and flurries, students, faculty members and families throughout the Bloomington community gathered to hear IU’s annual Chimes of Christmas. An hour before the curtain opened, the auditorium was glowing with faces ready for festive cheer.

“Tonight is the first night that the kids have attended the holiday show,” Bloomington resident Kerry Thompson said. “Our daughter was shocked when the curtain opened for the first time. She’s a big fan of the high heels and dresses.”

The auditorium filled up with eager ears and the room fell silent as the lights slowly dimmed and performers took their positions.

The Wind Ensemble started off the evening with a soothing rendition of ‘Christmas Travelogue,’ followed by holiday favorite ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High,’ accompanied by the sounds of the Singing Hoosiers.

 “Tonight is a big night for the IU Auditorium because this is sort of the unofficial kick-off to the start of the holiday season,” said IU Auditorium Director Doug Booher. “We’ve sold over 2,500 tickets, and it’s exciting to know that we have many returning ‘regulars’ coming to see the show as well as having students fill up over one-third of our audience.”

Chimes of Christmas has been an IU tradition since the late ’50s and continues to attract more people each and every year, Booher said. The directors of the IU Wind Ensemble, the Trombome Choir and the Singing Hoosiers collaborate each year for the concert, putting together a setlist that consists of the holiday favorites as well as newer content.

“We have the same groups performing every year,” said Booher. “Many of the local community members come to hear specific songs by these artists, so we try and make sure we have a wide variety of content to please the audience.”

Members of the crowd were entertained by the levels of intensity each group brought to the show and said they were impressed by the vast amount of instrumental soloists. During the first half of the show, jaws dropped when harp soloist Emily Levin wowed the audience with her performance of ‘Silent Night.’

“The music sounded great,” freshman Arianna Gutierrez said. “I really enjoyed the classical Christmas feel, especially the work done by the harp soloist.”

The mood of the concert was lightened when Santa Claus appeared on the stage, causing the audience to burst into laughter and cheers as he interacted with the children watching the show.

Drawing near to the end of the show, the audience was encouraged to sing along with the Singing Hoosiers as the Wind Ensemble played “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,’” “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night.”