CY Stephens will echo with holiday spirit as the voices of 300 singers and 20 orchestra members fill the auditorium at 3 p.m. Sunday at the annual Holiday Choral Festival.

“The best part of the performance is the entire atmosphere at CY Stephens,” said Haley Cook, Cantamus member. “It is awesome. You can hear the voices echoing off of the wall.”

Four ISU choirs – the Iowa State Singers, Statesmen, Cantamus and Lyrics – are under the direction of James Rodde, director of choral activities, and wife Kathleen Rodde, adjunct assistant professor of music.

All members are selected by audition only and rehearsals for the holiday concert began about one month ago. Members of the Iowa State Singers choir practice every day for 50 minutes, while the rest of the choirs meet three times a week for 50 minutes, explained James Rodde.

The concert consists of a wide variety of Christmas music.

Each choir will sing three or four numbers, with a finale featuring all the choirs together.

To increase stage-audience interaction, audience members will be asked to join in and sing the traditional carols as the different choirs make their way on and off stage, James Rodde said.

“We are doing a variety of music from Gospel to classical. Therefore, everyone should be able to find something that they will enjoy,” said Cook, freshman in pre-journalism.

“The program provides a sense of community and is inviting to the audience,” James Rodde said. “Making music with the people is very exciting. Music becomes the voice of the soul; it allows the inner voice to speak.”

The best part about working with college-age students is their age of personal development and the level of maturity in their voices; it is when voices really start to blossom, James Rodde said.

“We all had to audition to be a part of [choir] so you know everyone is here because they want to be,” Cook explained.

“Everyone, who is a part of the choir is bonded by a common interest even though we are of all different ages and different majors, we have become almost like a family. Therefore, music becomes an escape from the everyday turmoil we all face in classes,” she added.

The Holiday Choral Festival is Iowa State’s last choral concert of the semester.

Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, the ticket office at Stephens Auditorium, or at the door the day of the performance.