Tickets for the Christmas concerts presented annually by Calimesa Community Concerts are now for sale online, according to the sponsors. The Gary Bonner Singers and Orchestra will be featured in two performances at the Calimesa Seventh-day Adventist Church on Dec. 16 and 17.
This year’s concerts, titled “JOY!”, are a return engagement for the musicians. Dr. Bob Soderblom, director of the community concert series, says the popular Bonner groups have made repeated sell-out appearances in Calimesa since their first here in 1996.
The Calimesa concert series is now in its 38th season. Its annual Christmas concert weekend is known as the Christmas Festival of Music and Lights.
Once again, this year’s concerts will be directed by Dr. Gary Bonner, internationally recognized as a musician and leader in advancing Christian choral music performance. He was the founding dean of the schools of music first at Azusa Pacific University and later at California Baptist University in Riverside, where he was honored as the university’s outstanding professor. He retired from CBU in 2012.
Bonner launched the Gary Bonner Singers in 1995, and this year will be joined in directing the two Calimesa performances by his son, Dr. Judd Bonner, who is also a former professor and choral director at California Baptist.
In each of the Calimesa performances, 61 singers and orchestra musicians will be combined under the direction of both Dr. Gary Bonner and Dr. Judd Bonner. The concerts are at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, and earlier on Saturday, Dec. 17, when the afternoon performance begins at 4 p.m. "Reserved-seat tickets to either concert range in price from $10 to $30, depending on location, and can be ordered on-line at www.iTickets.com or by phone at (800) 965-9324," says Soderblom. Popular credit cards are accepted, and no tickets will be sold at the door.
Doors will open 30 minutes before each concert, the announcement says, and light refreshments and an opportunity to visit with the musicians and other concertgoers are scheduled to follow both performances in the church’s adjoining fellowship hall.
The Calimesa church hosting the concert appearances is at 391 Myrtlewood Dr. (4th and Myrtlewood) in Calimesa. The church is chosen to host the sacred concerts each Christmas season partly in recognition of its long tradition of beautiful lighting and decoration to mark the religious holiday, Soderblom explains.
“Early ticket orders have the choice of seating at either concert,” he adds. A recorded phone line -- (909) 795-9741 -- provides free information and directions for the concerts. When a voice answers the phone call, dialing the single digit ‘7’ takes a caller to the recorded message.