The Lehighton Area High School choruses will present their 57th Annual Christmas Concert on Thursday, December 20 at 7:30 p.m.

The choirs will present "The Spirit of Christmas" and a free-will donation will be accepted at the door. All net proceeds will benefit local charities for work in our community.The donations will be given to the American Cancer Society and Holiday Educare during the 2013 year.The concert will feature Concert Choir, Varsity Voices, and Music Express Sr. under the direction of Mr. David Perkins.The mixed, Concert Choir, will perform a variety of familiar and new holiday pieces covering many different genres. From an African fanfare to a gospel style Swahili piece entitled "Chasing the Wild Winds of December".The choir is made up of almost 60 students and they will perform a selection from Benjamin Britten's "A Ceremony of Carols" and a new piece by Mark Thomas, "Ave Maris Stella".The mixed choir will feature guest alumni soloist, "Samantha Cerimele" and Ellen Perkins on violin. This new composition is by Mark Thomas and was performed at the ACDA National Honor Choir's performance in Chicago 2011. Michael Perkins, a student at Lehighton High School was selected and represented the school district that year.The singers will also perform many familiar Christmas carols for the audience.Varsity Voices is a new vocal jazz ensemble at the school and is making is in its third year of existence. This group is made up of 11 auditioned singers who will perform the traditional French carol, "Sing We Now of Christmas" arranged by Robert Sterling.This choir has earned superior and excellent ratings in recent competitions. The honor solo, "O Holy Night" will be sung by Michael Perkins and Elyse Kistler."Music Express Sr.", an auditioned show choir of mixed voices, will be performing a mixture of upbeat holiday favorites along with some new compositions.This group is comprised of 20 auditioned singers who rehearse afterschool in the evenings and on weekends. They have earned first place awards with superior and excellent ratings and performed in a variety of venues.This award-winning show choir will sing a selection from the "Holiday" album by GLEE, and a selection from the hit motion picture, "The Polar Express". The choir will sing a medley of songs about the one and only, "Santa Claus"!"Music Express Sr." will also sing an arrangement of the Justin Beiber hit, "Mistletoe".The choir will be performing at "Hershey Park" on Saturday, December 22, at 6 p.m. This marks the fifth year the group has been invited to perform for the guests of the park during their Christmas CandyLane festivities. You will definitely hear some of your favorite holiday songs and carols at this year's program. Doors open at 7 p.m. and a donation for local charities will be accepted at the door. The piano accompanists for the concert are: Emily Cerimele, Elyse Kistler, and Noah Williams.