Mount Marty University to Present Annual Vespers Concert
December 3, 2024
Celebrate the holiday season with Mount Marty University's 42nd Vespers Performance held on Saturday, December 7 in the Bishop Marty Chapel. There will be two performances at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
This year's performance, titled 'Northern Lights,' will be led by Tyler Thress, Ph.D., assistant professor of music and director of choral activities. The concert will maintain the same structure of the original canonical hour of Vespers, evening prayer, that St. Benedict instructed the monks to pray but will feature music by Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American composers performed by the Mount Marty University Chamber Choir, Choral Union, Concert Band and the J. Laiten Weed Memorial Brass.
"This year's Vespers is all about celebrating the larger Yankton community [and] recognizing the many Scandinavian immigrants who settled in this area," said Thress. "I recently learned about the Sons of Norway organization, and this is the kind of pride I want to tap into. Last year's chant-based program reflected the Catholic heritage of Sacred Heart Monastery and Mount Marty University, and this year's extends to the wider community that we all call home."
Mount Marty University thanks the Yankton Benedictines of Sacred Heart Monastery for graciously sponsoring this event. Tickets to the performance are free — and required — and available at mountmarty.edu/tickets. South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) will record and televise this event at 10 p.m. on December 24, and it will be available to view at sdpb.org.