About 75 children will share Christmas cheer through song Saturday during “Christmas With the APO.”

The University of Arkansas Children’s Choir will be joining the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra on stage to perform Christmas carols at Arend Arts Center in Bentonville. The show will also feature Grammy Award-winning soprano Leona Mitchell and the Ozark Bronze Handbell Ensemble.

The University of Arkansas Children’s Choir started in 1997 as the dream of Donna Wiggins, says Heather Milholland-Atwood, its current director. This year’s choir includes about 90 childrenin two groups: UACC 1 and UACC 2. UACC 1 is for children in grades three through five, and UACC 2 is for children in grades six through eight and sometimes ninth grade.

They have performed with UA Choirs, UA Inspirational Chorale and Singing Men of Arkansas. The youngerchoir sang Thursday at the Arkansas State Capitol, and the older choir has performed at Carnegie Hall, Chicago and Walt Disney World, Milholland-Atwood says.

Children can audition starting at the end of second grade, and usually 35-40 are accepted from the 250-300 in the tryouts, she says. It is a strenuous audition, and the young singers that are accepted are pretty exceptional.

“They have a total love for music and are very dedicated to the performance of it,” she says.

The singers learn performance skills, sightsinging, ear-training and music theory, Milholland-Atwood says. Once children are in the choir, they do not have to re-audition and can remain inthe choir through eighth or ninth grade.

“We become one big family,” she says.

Emily Jackson, a 13-year-old from Fayetteville, joined the choir two years ago because she loves to sing and wanted a group to sing with. Some of her friends were in the choir and told her it was a lot of fun, she says. She has been singing for as long as she can remember, she adds, noting that her mom was a music teacher before she was born. She enjoys being in the choir because of all the friends she’s made and the different types of music they sing.

“Christmas music is my favorite all year round, so I always look forward to the Christmas concerts that we do,” she says.

For “Christmas With the APO,” the mass choir will perform “Somewhere in My Memory” and “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas,” two songs of a three-song medley from “Home Alone” by John Williams. The choir will also sing “Angels’ Carol” by John Rutter and a piece by Roger Emerson called “Holiday Favorites,” which includes the songs “Let It Snow,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Silver Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman.” They will also accompany Leona Mitchell for “Panis Angelicus” by Cesar Franck.

Some of the other songs in the show include “Rhapsody On Christmas Carols,” “What Child is This?,” “Carol of the Bells,” “O Holy Night,” “Ave Maria” and “White Christmas.”

Whats Up, Pages 23 on 12/20/2013