The Festival of Carols Christmas Concert will take place on Saturday, December 18t 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Kissimmee.

The free concert features more than 60 singers and some 30 live musicians perform in 20 classical Christmas carols. There is no cost but seating is limited. The church Head Pastor is Bob Wooten.

The Osceola Center for the Arts singers, under the direction of Scott Weyrauch, will perform are part of the concert. Past concerts included Disney, Broadway and Music from the Decades. Weyrauch is from Wisconsin, where he attended the University of Wisconsin-Parkside majoring in Music Education with an emphasis on vocal erformance.

He moved to Central Florida in 2000 when he was hired by Walt Disney World. While at Disney, he performed in many shows including the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. After a brief stint singing in the Pacific for Royal Caribbean, he began his ministry at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando, where he was the assistant director of Music.

In 2005 he joined the First United Methodist church staff in Kissimmee as the director of music ministries.

As director, Weyrauch enjoyed creating a ministry, which embraces all styles, types, and genres of music. He also serves as the director of the Center Singers, a community choir sponsored by the Osceola Center for the Arts.  He teaches workshops for the Disney Magic Music Days program. Scott and his wife Aimee met while working at Disney nearly 9 years ago. They currently live in Orlando.

The assistant director-accompanist is Lizzy Kriger.    She has more than 35 years of experience as a church organist, having begun working as a professional church organist at age 12 in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.   She has also worked in both the United States and Europe as a church organist and holds a master of music in voice performance from Indiana University and a bachelor of music in voice performance from the University of Wisconsin. Lizzy has extensive experience in performance both as a mezzo-contralto and also as a coach-accompanist in opera and concert in Europe and the United States. Here in Florida, Lizzy music-directs Broadway Musical Theater productions and has worked with Seaside Music Theater, the Osceola Center for the Arts, Daytona Beach Playhouse and the Little Theater of Smyrna Beach. She also teaches voice at the Osceola Center for the Arts. Lizzy is one of the longest serving employees with ten years of tenure.

Carols to be sung include, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Come Emmanuel, O Little Town of  Bethlehem, Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, Good Christian Men, Rejoice, Angels We Have Heard On High, Angels from the Realms of  Glory, Silent Night, and others.  The concert will last about 50 minutes.

Concert soloists include soprano soloist Catherine Harrover, who hails from Kenosha, Wisconsin.   She currently sings at Disney World’s Epcot Center as a member of the Voices of Liberty.

Baritone soloist is Barron Rice, a graduate student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he is working on his Masters in Vocal Performance.

The orchestra is headed up by Marla Davison, a student at Stetson who is serving as the orchestra coordinator. 

The group is composed of some 32 musicians from the Osceola County School for the Arts, Dr. Phillips High School, Florida Youth Symphony Orchestra, college musicians from the University of Central Florida, Stetson University, University of South Florida, Ohio State University and the University of Florida. 

Professional musicians include harpist Kathleen Attanasi, violinist Heather Gullstrand and pianist Lizzy Kriger. 

For more information, contact Scott Weyrauch at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .