By SYDNEY ARNOLD ’26 and KELSEY CURTIS ’27
Updated 11:50 a.m. EDT, 5 Dec 2025
The 2025 Christmas Prism is on Dec. 5 and 6 at Wesley Chapel at 7:30 p.m. Prism is a music performance that occurs each year in early December. It celebrates the start of the Advent and Christmas season through the performance of seasonal music and scripture readings. This year, the Greatbach School of Music’s (GSM) Orchestra and Choirs are working together to perform George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
Messiah is an oratorio, which is a large-scale musical work for an orchestra and voices that discusses a religious narrative. In this case, the birth, death and resurrection of Christ. The oratorio has 53 movements, which are divided into three parts. The GSM will be performing selections from the work.
Dr. Kevin Dibble, Associate Director of the Greatbatch School of Music and Artistic Director of Prisim, said that the piece “is one of the most well-known and frequently performed pieces of classical music. It is performed by literally thousands of musicians across the globe each year.” Since it is such a widely known piece, he believes that performing it is “a really powerful opportunity for our students and community” and is also “a wonderful educational experience for our students.”
He is most excited to hear movements 12-15, which “set the scene of the shepherds in the field as the angel comes to tell them of Christ’s birth.” He also looks forward to hearing the crescendo through the movements, starting with just the orchestra performing. The movements then culminate in the 15th movement when all “instrumental and vocal forces [enter,] representing the multitude of heavenly hosts singing ‘Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth!’” Dibble said that “the variety, excitement, and majesty” of these movements have always “gripped” him.
Messiah requires all the different facets of the GSM to work together. Sarah Brunone ‘27, a member of Houghton choir, articulated, “It’s very rewarding to put this much work into something with so many other people, and even more rewarding that we all get to come together and use our gifts in worship towards the one who gave them to us.” Students participating in the Prism performance are not only being technically challenged, but are also able to experience this process as a community. Violinist Emma Illian ‘27 shared, “I love coming together with so many other musicians to share what little we have and point to our God who has shared all that He is with us.” Illian expressed that this is a great way to begin the Christmas season, entirely focused on Jesus. “I am so thankful for a school and community that chooses to take time to look to Jesus in a season when many other things are demanding our attention,” she said.
The Prism performance is intentionally different from other Christmas or Holiday performances and celebrations. Dibble shared that this concert is “unashamedly and fully sacred, pointing to Christ.” He remarked, “There are a lot of fun secular holiday songs… but I love that we focus on the true meaning of Christmas and sharing that with the community.” Attending this year’s Prism concert is an opportunity for the performers and their audience to celebrate the birth of Christ together as a Houghton community.★
