The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University will present “Christmas with Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, in the Abbey and University Church on the Saint John’s campus.

There is only one campus performance this year. The traditional Saturday evening concert at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis will not occur this year due to staffing shortages. There are hopes to bring back the Basilica concert in 2023.

“The Christmas concert tradition at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University is cherished on our campuses, in the local community and in the Twin Cities,” said Bradley Miller, CSB and SJU choral conductor and artistic director for the concert. “As it ushers in the Advent and Christmas seasons, it has nourished performers and audience members for decades.”

“The annual concert at the Basilica of Saint Mary is one that I have most looked forward to since my arrival at CSB and SJU. Though we are all disappointed that the event has been postponed for yet another year, we continue to focus on the incredible opportunity we have to tell the Christmas story through rich and beautiful music, as we always have, and this year in the magnificent Abbey and University Church.”

The orchestra and audience carols will return to this year’s concert.

Performing groups will include: CSB and SJU Chamber Choir; CSB Women’s Choir; SJU Men’s Chorus; CSB and SJU Brass Choir; St. John’s Boys’ Choir; and the Amadeus Chamber Symphony.

Some annual favorites in this year’s concert include: Egil Hovland’s “The Glory of the Father” and Lara Hoggard’s “Personent Hodie.”

The program will weave together selections sung and played by the individual ensembles as well as choral-orchestral repertoire performed by the massed choirs with the Amadeus Chamber Symphony.

Some of the favorites this year will include: “Christus Natus Est” by Rosephanye Powell, a setting of a poem by Harlem Renaissance writer Countee Cullen; “Climb to the Top of the Highest Mountain” by Carolyn Jennings; “O Magnum Mysterium” by Cesár Carrillo; “Antiphon” from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Five Mystical Songs” and traditional audience carols.

Ticket prices for the concerts are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, $10 for non-CSB and SJU students and CSB and SJU employees, and $8 for CSB and SJU students. All tickets are general admission.

Tickets will be available, starting on Oct. 18, online at csbsju.edu/fine-arts or through the Benedicta Arts Center ticket office at 320-363-5777.