It’s not often you hear free and Christmas used in the same sentence, but here it is. Koinonia’s Christmas in Concert series kicks off next weekend with four free Christmas concerts featuring all new music.
The event is now in its sixth year, and executive director for the concert Kathryn Hofer says it continues to grow due to its fresh take on holiday classics.
“All the music’s new every single year. We’ve never done any of these arrangements, any of these songs,” Hofer explained. “That’s part of the reason people want to keep coming back.”
Another aspect of the concert that makes it unique is the whole event is volunteer-driven. Nearly 100 volunteers make up the cast and crew, while an additional 150 will be assisting with tickets and seating.
“We have choirs, bands, orchestra, vocalists and a really wide variety of music which I think is really fun to do at Christmas,” Hofer said.
The concert runs for an hour and a half, an hour and 20 minutes of that being all music. This year’s 17-piece orchestra is the largest they’ve had. She said the idea for the concert series came seven years ago when they had been doing large theatrical productions that were a hit.
“But we sat back and thought what are our strengths?” Hofer said. “[We thought] that really our strength is music, let’s just do a whole concert of Christmas music.”
There will be classics, Christmas carols, and unique arrangements. The Friday night performance is called the dessert café, which is just what it sounds like, offering up tasty treats. She said lots of businesses come for their Christmas party. A team of servers and kitchen staff will be on hand.
“It’s had its own little journey through the music we’ve done,” Hofer said. “Every year it gets better because the people who are involved keep getting better and we’re working together as a team.”
She said people are always surprised by the caliber of the concert, especially because it costs nothing to attend. They continue to grow through word of mouth and repeat attendees who bring friends and family after falling in love with the show.
“We started getting calls this year in September with people saying when’s your Christmas concert?” Hofer laughs.
The main reason they do the concert is because they love Christmas and they want to give a gift to the community, Hofer adds. She says it’s been exciting for the church to see their music become part of people’s Christmas tradition.
“We really hope it helps set people up to potentially have a better Christmas because Christmas is not always a happy time of year for everyone,” Hofer said. “Part of the reason why we do this is to give them a little bit of hope.”
Two performances will happen each day on
December 6 and 7 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The concerts are held at Koinonia Christian Fellowship in Bloomingdale and the church will open one hour before the start of the performance. An additional performance is happening at their Woodstock campus on December 13 at 3 p.m.
Tickets are free, but arrive early to get seats together. More information is available at www.christmasinconcert.com.
