EVENTS ROUNDUP: Music, art and an old-fashioned Christmas

Music on the Palouse and in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, a traveling art exhibit and an old-fashioned Christmas top this week’s list of events to consider. Many more are in the calendar on Page 14 — and at inland360.com, where readers can sign up for our weekly events newsletter highlighting even more options to explore.

The Palouse Choral Society and the Washington Idaho Symphony, collaborating for the first time since before the pandemic, will perform George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday at Pullman High School, 510 NW Greyhound Way.
Handel’s now legendary oratorio — including the “Hallelujah Chorus,” for which audiences traditionally stand — was written over a 24-day span in August and September of 1741, according to a symphony news release. He signed the manuscript with the letters SDG, for soli deo gloria or “To God alone the glory,” an inscription that led to the myth that Handel wrote it in a burst of divine inspiration. Handel was an experienced composer, though, and writing an opera or oratorio so quickly would not have been unusual for him.

Four guest soloists will be featured in this weekend’s performances: Alisa Toy, soprano, from Lewiston; Laura Beckel Thoreson, contralto, from Portland,Ore.; Ryan Deignan, tenor, from Duluth, Minn.; and Stefan Gordon, baritone, from Moscow.

Tickets are at wa-idsymphony.org/tickets; general admission is $20, and WSU students and children 6-12 can attend for free.


Interlink’s Christmas Variety Show, a fundraiser for the Clarkston nonprofit that provides transportation for seniors and people with disabilities, is set for 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Clarkston High School’s auditorium, 401 Chestnut St.
The event, returning for the first time since 2018, has evolved from a community church choir concert to include dance and instrumental performances by community members, according to an Interlink news release.

The Rev. Cody Stauffer, from First United Methodist Church of Lewiston and Clarkston United Methodist Church, will emcee the event, with the Clarkston High School Jazz Band, Just for Kix Dance Studio, pianist Jon Van Vogt and Nathanael Tucker and students from his Valley Violin Academy among the performers.

Tickets are $15 at the door or $12 or five for $50 in advance at the Interlink office, 549 Fifth St., Suite E, in Clarkston. More information is at interlinkvolunteers.org.


An exhibit at Lewis-Clark State College’s Center for Arts & History examines the history of multicultural logging communities with an in-depth look at the segregated community of Maxville, Ore.
“ ‘Timber Culture,’ depicts the lives of loggers and their families drawn together from different cultures during the great migration, presenting an inclusive look at Oregon’s multicultural logging communities,” according to an LCSC news release.

The traveling exhibit, on loan from the Maxville Heritage Interactive Center, will be at the Lewiston gallery, 415 Main St., until Jan. 27. A closing reception is set for 4-6 p.m. Jan. 25.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Frida ys. The center also is open on select weekend dates and by appointment. More information is at lcsc.edu/cah.


White Spring Ranch Museum’s Christmas Open House is set for 1-5 p.m. Sunday, at 1004 Lorang Road, Genesee.

The Majestic stove will be going in the ranch’s historical farmhouse for an old-fashioned Christmas feel, and music will be provided by John Elwood on dulcimer and Jeanne McHale on piano, according to information provided by the ranch.

Tea, cider and hot chocolate, and Christmas treats will be served in the warmed kitchen. Visitors should dress warmly for touring other rooms in the farmhouse and the1878 log cabin.

There is no cost to attend the event, but donations will be accepted.