Linda Mahdesian President-elect Gee will join the fun Adeste Fideles to the Fiftieth Annual Latin Carol Celebration The Department of Classics will present the 50th annual Latin Carol Celebration at 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, in the First Baptist Meeting House. The program will feature readings in Latin by Brown faculty and staff, including President-elect E. Gordon Gee. William Wyatt, professor of classics at Brown, will serve as master of ceremonies.
Admission is free and the public is welcome.
Brief history of the Latin Carol Celebration Variously named, the Latin Carol Celebration has been held in several locations, but the format has remained remarkably the same. The audience sings carols in Latin, while members of the Brown University family read passages from ancient texts, some from the Bible, in the original languages or in Latin translation. Music was provided by organist John Rowe Workman of the Classics Department and a chorus, directed by William Dinneen of the Department of Music. Herbert Newell Couch, chair of the Classics Department, was master of ceremonies, a term changed the next year to Magister Equitum. Attendance in Alumnae Hall was always good, rising from an initial 300 to 400 to a reported 1,000 in 1967.