'Christmas At Baylor' Wraps Up Production At Jones Concert Hall

High-definition television crews have wrapped up production on "Christmas at Baylor," a holiday special featuring orchestras and choirs from the Baylor University School of Music that will be available to the nation's PBS stations next holiday season.
After recording the Chamber Singers in Armstrong Browning Library and the Faculty Brass Quintet in Truett Seminary, crews taped the annual Christmas concerts Dec. 6-7 in Jones Concert Hall. About half of "Christmas at Baylor" will be assembled from those performances, which featured the Baylor Choral Union (the combined A Cappella and Concert choirs) and the Baylor Symphony Orchestra. Strolling carolers also were recorded as transitional elements and to give viewers a feel for Baylor's campus.
The high-tech production mixed local talent through KWBU-TV with an Emmy-winning producer and other technical experts from around the country.
Veteran producer Philip Byrd has produced numerous musical programs, including holiday productions with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Byrd won a national prime time Emmy Award for "Wolf Trap Presents the Kirov: Swan Lake" and served as producer and director of the PBS series "On Stage at Wolf Trap." Lighting director Cheryl Thacker is a former NBC lighting director who worked with "Late Night with David Letterman" when it was on NBC in the 1980s. Among numerous other credits, audio producer John McClure has produced 150 albums with Leonard Bernstein that have sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide. Technical director Annette Deshotels is the technical director on the "Oprah Winfrey" show.
For more information on the production and to order the DVD, visit the Christmas at Baylor website.