University premieres music video as Christmas gift to global community

  College of Arts & Sciences   Arts+Culture  

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – La Sierra University’s music department, during its 70th Annual Candlelight Concert on Dec. 1, debuted a Christmas music video arranged by an Emmy-winning composer and showcasing the talents of several of the university’s students.

La Sierra University student musicians on location in the Sierra Nevadas shooting the Christmas music video.
La Sierra University student musicians on location in the Sierra Nevadas shooting the Christmas music video.
Joseph Helmy, left, and Marian Helmy, right, played the roles of Mary and Joseph in a music video produced by La Sierra University's music and Advancement departments.
Joseph Helmy, left, and Marian Helmy, right, played the roles of Mary and Joseph in a music video produced by La Sierra University's music and Advancement departments.
Left to right, Daphne Leon, Kayla Canteras, Anthony Leon, and Sam Bolivar record the vocal track for a Christmas music video.
Left to right, Daphne Leon, Kayla Canteras, Anthony Leon, and Sam Bolivar record the vocal track for a Christmas music video.
Emmy-winning composer Gary Kuo leads musicians in performing his arrangement of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" for the music video.
Emmy-winning composer Gary Kuo leads musicians in performing his arrangement of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" for the music video.

The video, produced in conjunction with the Office of University Advancement, features eight La Sierra University student musicians performing the carol, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The tune was arranged specifically for the project by six-time Emmy Award-winning composer Gary Kuo who is an adjunct professor at La Sierra.

The video portrays the nativity story of Mary and Joseph, roles acted by La Sierra alums Marian and Joseph Helmy who previously arrived from their native Egypt to study accounting at the university. In Hebrew, the name Marian is a variant of Mary. The role of baby Jesus is played by Kenzo Grant who was just two weeks old at the time the video was made. Shooting for the nativity scenes took place on La Sierra’s campus and in the Painted Canyon area near the Southern California desert city of Mecca.

The Candlelight Concert was held at the La Sierra University Church. A second performance was held on Dec. 2. The music video is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0157rvyww8, on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/1916680185237668/videos/1950576968514656/, and on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/o-come-o-come-emmanuel-single/1320412208. As of Dec. 19, the Facebook view count tallied more than 580,000 and on YouTube stood at more than 40,800. 

The musical ensemble in the video consists of soprano Daphne Leon, alto Kayla Canteras, tenor L. Anthony Leon, baritone Sam Bolivar, pianist Julian Jenson, violinist Elena Kim, violinist Pablo Sanchez, and cellist John Wang. Bolivar and the Leons are cousins.

Fundraising for the video production began last summer with the music track recorded in August in Hole Memorial Auditorium. Joel Mendoza, a student at La Sierra, served as the project’s audio engineer under Kuo’s supervision. Kenzo’s parents, Cathy and Chris Grant of Rancho Cucamonga are alums of La Sierra, graduating respectively in 2006 and 2003. Bryan Fowler, a graduate of La Sierra sister school Southern Adventist University, served as cinematographer. His previous credits include shooting music videos for Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, and other Grammy-winning artists.

The music recording and editing process took more than 100 hours with filming in the various locales occurring on four days between Oct. 1 and Oct. 6. The manger scene was shot at La Sierra’s campus in a hillside hut previously designed as a prototype project by the school’s Enactus team. Other scenes took place in a goat hair Bedouin tent imported from Jordan by the university’s Center for Near Eastern Archaeology. Props included a 2,000-year-old Roman jug provided for the video by the archaeology center. Numerous other details included acquiring filming permits from the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, buying food for students and crew, and renovating an older, white piano borrowed from a La Sierra alum for use in the musical performance scenes in the Sierras. The piano was taken apart and transported into the mountains with a U-Haul truck where it was carried by seven crew members to the filming site on Minaret Vista.

The Department of Music and the Office of University Advancement served as executive producers for the project. The eight-member video production crew was led by Jonathan Davidson, an Advancement Development Officer and university alum, and Development Officer Kristine Barker, a student in La Sierra’s MBA program. The duo functioned as producers, directors and editors. Crew member Jonathan Hwang is also an alum of the university.

“It’s a Christmas gift to the church, the global community, and anyone who loves great music,” said Davidson. “We believe that the combination of music and film is a powerful way to share God’s love. The La Sierra University music students are extremely talented and we wanted to give them an opportunity to share those talents in a unique way.”

Additional music video credits are as follows:

Assistant Producer: Lovelyn Razzouk

Music arrangement: Gary Kuo

Audio Engineer: Joel Noe Mendoza

Cinematographer: Bryan Fowler

1st Assistant Camera: Mark Soderblom

2nd Assistant Camera/Gaffer: Jon Hwang

Wardrobe and Make-up: Klarissa Bietz

Leave No Trace Consultant: W. S. Adams

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