Centre stage at the delightful event were the two choruses of Cantemus and Morning Sky along with performances by Stephen Arrastia (a faculty member) and the students of the American International School of Dhaka's (AISD) Brass Ensemble.

Beginning with a musical rendering of old carols by Cantemus such as Psallite, Break forth, O beauteous, heavenly light, the next to follow were the students of AISD under the direction of Arrastia. The young ones of the middle school gave instrumental renderings of well-loved carols such as Jingle bells, We wish you a merry Christmas and Rudolph the red nose reindeer.

Then came Cantemus with carols from different parts of the globe such as Spain, Mexico, Japan and Canada. A memorable point of the evening was Morning Sky's rendering of the Japanese carol Yu Ki. Another moving piece was Perhaps love, originally by popular country singer John Denver.

Stephen Arrastia regaled the audience with his saxophone renderings of The Christmas song and Go tell it to the mountain, among others. The curtains came down on Cantemus once more -- this time with The Christmas song.

Brilliant performances were put in by piano accompanists Saad Chowdhury (Cantemus) and Anne Reed (Morning Sky). Ably coordinating the remarkable musical effort were directors Dawne Warkentin and Jill Chowdhury of Cantemus and Morning Sky respectively.

Though the evening performance attracted a huge audience, one would have liked to sing along with old carol favourites such as Silent night, O come all ye faithful and O little town of Bethlehem.

The proceeds of the show go to a component of a project of Social and Economic Enhancement Programme (SEEP), a local NGO, whose mission is to work for the empowerment of deprived children as well as their parents and community.