Hesston College Music and Theater will present the annual masterworks performance at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 9, at Hesston Mennonite Church on the Hesston College campus. The program, Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna (Light Eternal), will acknowledge the light that Christ brings to our world.

The Hesston College community and wider community has experienced several losses in recent years, including the deaths of Hesston College employees and close family members and the shooting at Excel Industries. Yet, the Advent season, reminds us that Christ entered a world of darkness and brings us comfort and peace.

“When audience members arrive they will have the opportunity to write the name of a loved one on a glass holiday ornament that will be used during the performance to decorate a Christmas tree,” said Hesston College music faculty member Russell Adrian.

Adrian will conduct the chorus made up of three Hesston College choirs and community participants. In a collaboration with Hesston College Theater, the five movement work will be interjected with theatre pieces and holiday music that allows performers and audience members to remember the lives of loved ones as we celebrate the Light that comforts us during the Christmas season. Finally, the work closes by confessing that Christ is the savior of the world and asking for perpetual light.

Hesston College Theater Director, Rachel Jantzi, has pulled scenes from 15 different works and woven them together in a powerful narrative that brings the meaning of the Lux Aeterna to life. Theater students will participate in interpreting these scenes.

“The music and theater pieces are incredible,” Adrian said. “There will be opportunities for the audience to sing Christmas carols with the choir and orchestra.”

Tickets for the concert are $10 for adults, $5 for students and free of charge for Hesston College students. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at the Hesston College Bookstore in person or by calling 620-327-8104.