The first week of December brings with it Yuletide cheer and sounds of the season with three holiday events.
The 3 Redneck Tenors head to Evans this week to perform at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Jabez Sanford Hardin Performing Arts Center.
The 3 Redneck Tenors are classically trained opera singers who will bring a unique Christmas show blending classic music with pop and a “deep-fried feast of musical delights,” according to a news release from Augusta Amusements. “There’s nothing old-fashioned about this music, arranged by award-winning composer Craig Bohmler. The show is infused with vitality, energy, passion, and laughter.”
3 Redneck Tenors 
Tickets to the 3 Redneck Tenors Christmas SPEC-TAC-YULE-AR are $44.95 and are available at augustaamusements.com or by calling (706) 726-0036.
For those who prefer a more traditional concert, the Augusta Choral Society will present Handel’s “Messiah” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 at St. Paul’s Church, 605 Reynolds St.
The choral society is celebrating its 70th season this year, and “Messiah” is being performed in honor of Emily Remington, the choral society’s first director, who died in July 2020, at the age of 103.
“Messiah” was the first concert the choral society presented, according to Carolyn Dolen, the society’s executive director in an Oct. 15 article in The Augusta Press.
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It’s a perennial favorite, and J. Porter Stokes, the artistic director, invites people to bring their “Messiah” scores with them and sing along on the choruses, she said.
Soloists include Laurie Orth, soprano; Sawyer Branham, mezzo; George Kasarjarian, tenor; and Richard Hodges, bass.
Tickets are $15-$35 with discounts for military and senior citizens and are available at augustacs.org or at the door.
On Dec. 5, a jazz holiday concert called “Joye To the World!” will be performed at 4 p.m. the University of South Carolina Aiken’s Etherredge Center.
For years, Joye in Aiken has had ties to musicians at The Juilliard School and showcased them in performances during the spring. This is the first year for a holiday concert featuring those musicians, said Janice Jennings, Joye in Aiken’s executive director.
Joye in Aiken Artistic Director for Jazz Riley Mulherkar produces an annual holiday show for Jazz at Lincoln Center, but this year instead of it being performed in New York, the show will be in Aiken, she said.
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It brings together jazz and Christmas music and promises to be a spectacular event; one that she and officials with Joye in Aiken are excited about, she said.
“We are really lucky,” she said.
The holiday concert features six musicians – “trumpeter Mulherkar himself; fellow Juilliard alumni Mathis Picard on piano, Dan Chmielinski on bass, and Bryan Carter on drums; vocalist and Latin Grammy winner Ella Bric; and Martina DaSilva, star of The Ladybugs and Postmodern Jukebox,” according to a news release.
Tickets are $50 and are available at joyeinaiken.com.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
