LaGrange residents can get a double dose of Thanksgiving music this weekend as the Choral Society of West Georgia offers its holiday program twice.

The group consists of the combined choruses of the LaGrange Civic Chorale and Bel Canto LaGrange, a women’s vocal ensemble. Offering the concert twice came due to “the tremendous response we received last year,” said Bettie Biggs, conductor and artistic director.

In their fourth season together, Biggs said the choruses combined after “so many of the women in Bel Canto LaGrange perform with the Civic Chorale, it only made sense to combine both, and I felt like we would be able to reach a wider variety of people this way.”

The concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church in downtown LaGrange.

Choosing Thanksgiving for an annual holiday concert was easy, Biggs said.

“We normally do it right before the holiday … where everyone is busy and rushing about … and it just seemed like the most practical way to usher in the holidays in song,” she said.

“Christmas gets crazy in LaGrange. It gets so packed with events and now with the economy as it is, people are trying to find ways to economize for holiday entertainment. And with our concerts this year, I believe they will appreciate what we have done - with the breaks in the singing, with the narrators and, of course, there will be a time for the audience to stand and sing with us. It is really neat.”

Kim Barber-Knoll, head of the fine arts department at LaGrange College, and J. Wesley Smith, interim rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, will serve as narrators - sharing pieces on American life and the meaning of Thanksgiving. Featured soloist will be David Kocsis, First Presbyterian Church organist.

Adding the narrators and the “reflections that they will be reading - really poetry and prose depicting the holiday, family and life centering around the holiday” was an idea that Biggs felt would make the concert unique.

Having the concert at First Presbyterian will “be wonderful,” Biggs said. “They always have the church beautifully decorated, and it is just gorgeous. With the timing of the concerts being in the early evening and right at dusk, the lighting will provide for a beautiful backdrop.”

“It is really more than just a concert.” she said. “It is a service of worship.”

— Tickets are available from Hill Street House, Plum Southern or members of Bel Canto LaGrange and the LaGrange Civic Chorale.

Becky Holland can be reached at bholland@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 229.