Christmas music is front and centre this weekend at Red Deer College with the annual Sounds of the Season concert slated for Dec. 10.

Featured groups include the Chamber Choir, the Symphonic Winds and the Percussion Ensemble. Things get underway at 7:30 p.m. on the Arts Centre mainstage.

The 40-voice RDC Chamber Choir under the direction of Danica Hoffart will entertain via a selection of a cappella Christmas tunes.

Variety is the defining word for their set, which includes everything from the Renaissance Cantate Domino to contemporary Christmas carol arrangements.

Other highlights include I Wonder as I Wonder and the English carol Tomorrow Shall be My Dancing Day.

Ross Whitney’s extraordinarily unique Pentatonic Alleluia offers a myriad of sounds as the Chamber singers sing as 40 soloists rather than in their typical voice sections.

The piece is described as one that “builds in intensity as each melody is introduced, overlapping with the others and then fading away to silence.”

Each singer presents a melodic fragment to the overall piece, “choosing their own tempo and rhythm.”

The Symphonic Winds, meanwhile, will be performing such gems as A Christmas Intrada by Alfred Reed, Irish Tune from County Derry and Shepherd’s Hey by Percy Grainger.

Other highlights include The Nightmare Before Christmas by Danny Elfman and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Finally, the Percussion Ensemble will hit the stage with Little Jazz Drummer and Here Drums Santa Claus/Jingle Bells.

The evening wraps up with the traditional Christmas sing-a-long.

For tickets to Sounds of the Season, call Ticketmaster at 403-340-4455 or check out www.ticketmaster.ca.

mweber@reddeerexpress.com