St. Thomas Director of Choral Activities Angela Broeker and members of the Chamber Singers joined TommieMedia reporter Ashley Stewart to preview the 23rd annual Christmas concert.

For the second time in the past three years, Twin Cities Public Television will record the performance for its presentation of “A St. Thomas Christmas 2010,” a one-hour holiday special that will be distributed to public television stations nationwide during the holiday season.

The theme for this year’s concert is “All My Heart This Night Rejoices.” Broeker said some years the theme is chosen first and then they find pieces to reflect the text, or they find a piece of music they enjoy and make it into the concert’s theme.

“‘All My Heart This Night Rejoices’ is an arrangement of a choral piece by Randall Stroope that we actually sang three years ago, and we fell in love with the piece and wanted to use the title as our theme this year,” Broeker said.

The program features traditional favorites, Hispanic carols and modern pieces from nearly 300 students from eight university vocal and instrumental ensembles. It will be held at 4 p.m. and 7:30  p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis.

All concert proceeds will benefit St. Thomas music ensembles’ international performance tours.

Ashley Stewart can be reached at stew1177@stthomas.edu.