• Please join us at the Barbara H. Patton Southside Center for the Arts for a joyous Celebration and heartfelt “Thank You” to Barbara for her accomplishments, her generosity of spirit, and her many contributions to our community.

    CLICK HERE to reserve your tickets.

  • CLICK HERE to go to the Mark Hayes section.

    This extraordinary new multimedia, choral and orchestral event will spotlight the thrilling range of musical achievement by one of America’s most prolific and sought-after composers, arrangers, pianists, and conductors, showcasing a variety of familiar, inspiring choral works and piano solos.

    Tickets available now. Date Nov. 16, 2025.

An Evening with Mark Hayes

Venue: Opelika Center for the Performing Arts, 1700 LaFayette Pkwy.

New Date: NOV. 16, 2025 | 7:00 CST

Pianist, Composer, Arranger, Conductor, Mark Hayes

This extraordinary new multimedia, choral and orchestral event will spotlight the thrilling range of musical achievement by one of America’s most prolific and sought-after composers, arrangers, pianists, and conductors, showcasing a variety of familiar, inspiring choral works and piano solos. Under Mark’s direction, the occasion also celebrates the joint concert debut of the 80-voice East Alabama Civic Chorale and the 30-piece East Alabama Community Band Orchestra on stage at the Opelika Center For The Performing Arts.

The evening will culminate with the Southeastern premiere of The Christmas Truce ~ A Christmas Miracle, a dramatic new choral work by the artistic team that created the statewide tour of We’ll Meet Again. Conceived, written, scored, directed, and produced by Jim Harris, Mark Hayes, Richard Rose, and East Alabama Arts, a cast of actors joins the Chorale and the Orchestra, plumbing new depths of meaning in a moving WWI Belgian battlefield encounter.

The Christmas Truce, by Jim Harris and Mark Hayes

Tickets

East Alabama Community Band

This inspiring story recounts the famous Christmas truce of 1914 when soldiers fighting each other in WWI ceased fire for 24 hours and instead sang Christmas carols and exchanged holiday gifts and pleasantries across the trenches. A British soldier who experienced that event shares the magic of that night with his young grandson many years later in this heartwarming theatrical production. This work is filled with lively WWI songs and familiar carols such as Silent Night and O Come, All Ye Faithful. It will leave you believing in the power of hope, joy, and peace. Hayes will be at the podium conducting.

East Alabama Civic Chorale