Travel back in time for a special holiday feast celebrating the music and pageantry of the Elizabethan Age as Western Carolina University presents its annual Madrigal Christmas Dinner Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in the grandroom of the A.K. Hinds University Center. The event begins each night at 6:30 p.m.

Inspired by the English banquet feasts of the late 16th and early 17th century, the Madrigal Dinner features singers, musicians, minstrels, a jester and the lord and lady of a manor who welcome guests with wassail, figgy pudding, a boar’s head and other traditional foods of the period. (There’s an elaborate selection of foods and desserts to choose from, not just the Old World fare.)

Tables are decorated in deep burgundy, white and forest green with candles and greenery. All the performers will be in full Renaissance costumes that have been made by students and parents over the years.

“There’s a warm glow in the hall,” said Robert Holquist, a music professor at WCU and director of this year’s Madrigal Dinner. “It’s just so very colorful. We hope it makes people feel good.”

Trumpeters announce dignitaries and roving minstrels and a jester will entertain the audience members as they dine. Then Western Carolina University’s Early Music Ensemble will sing madrigals — songs performed in parts (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) that are usually sung a cappella. The student singers are a mix of both music and non-music majors — 15 in all this year.

The madrigal was not held last year because of a lack of singers. The music department was trying to jumpstart another singing group and there weren’t enough singers to be in both groups, according to Holquist, but students and faculty are looking forward to celebrating the madrigal this season.

“I’m hoping it’ll be around from now on,” Holquist said.

This year’s madrigal songs include well-known Christmas favorites such as “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” to “Masters in This Hall” and a wassail, or toast. Holquist has also arranged some of the songs for this year’s program.

“The script has quite a bit of comic relief this year,” he said. In addition to the traditional procession and boar’s head presentation (pages bring it in on a litter), Queen Elizabeth I will make an appearance.

The Madrigal Dinner has been a Western Carolina Christmas event since 1970. James Dooley, a music professor at the university, has been involved with the madrigal from the beginning. He and his wife, Barbara, dress in costume as the lord and lady who preside over the festivities. Over the years, there have been a few minor mishaps — someone misplaced Dooley’s sword one year and he went scrambling around for it. Another year a singer got too close to the table candles and set a feather on his hat on fire. But what keeps people coming back each year is the music, and this year’s talented cast is expected to be as good as ever.

“It draws people from all over the western part of the state,” Dooley said. “It’s an awfully good program to pull the university and the community together.”

Tickets for the event are $27 per person and $16 for WCU students. This includes a full two hours of entertainment, a hearty dinner and plenty of desserts. All the action takes place in the grandroom of the A.K. Hinds University Center, which is located on the third floor of the building. The money raised at the Madrigal Dinner simply goes to pay for the costs of putting on the event and not for any additional profit. For more information about the Madrigal Dinner, call the University Center at 828.227.7206 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News