The 83rd Annual Holiday Vespers was presented at the Lied Center on Sunday to its usual enthusiastic audience. Under the direction of John Paul Johnson, Paul Tucker and David Neely, the combined Symphonic Choirs and the Symphony Orchestra made wonderful contributions to this venerable institution of Holiday Vespers.

Leading over 200 members of the combined choirs, Johnson allowed several groups and individuals to shine, including the men of Chamber Choir on “Adest sponsus” and all the male voices in Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria.” The choir entered from the back of the house and stood down the aisles while the men offered a smooth, even tone quality that presaged the professionalism of the concert to come. While still surrounding the audience, the entire choir tackled the French carol “Sing We Now of Christmas,” a difficult piece to manage even when standing in traditional formation.

Being spread throughout the large auditorium makes keeping its intricate and brisk rhythms even more difficult. However, with only some hesitation in places, the choir held together very well.

As the singers moved onto the stage, the audience enjoyed its first sing-a-long opportunity with “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Then the women of the choir were nicely featured in “Cantate!” by John Leavitt and the entire choir in the lovely “Child in a Manger” composed by Dan Musselman.

Johnson then introduced Neely as director of the Symphony Orchestra in his first appearance at the KU Vespers. In excerpts from “The Nutcracker,” Neely drew crisp, clean performances from the entire orchestra and especially the winds in “Dance of the Reed-Pipes” and horns in “Waltz of the Flowers.”

An unusual entry in this year’s program was an excerpted, concert version of “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” The well-know Menotti opera was part of doctoral candidate Vera Volchansky’s recital in orchestral conducting. Volchansky deftly conducted the Symphony Orchestra while soloists performed a partially staged version of well-known scenes from “Amahl.”

No Vespers program is complete without “Silent Night,” and this performance offered an arrangement by Tucker, who also directed. Tucker arranged the verses to feature soloists representing different voice parts with the rest of the choir providing an interesting and rhythmic, almost orchestral accompaniment. Johnson then conducted orchestra and choirs in the sprightly Israeli folk song “Zum Gali.”

With Neely again at the podium, the orchestra delivered a spectacular rendition of Leroy Anderson’s always enjoyable “Sleigh Ride.” The performance was tight, well-controlled and bright.

Although the players later suffered some intonation problems with Robert Shaw and Robert Russell Bennett’s “The Many Moods of Christmas,” these were brief and not distracting issues, and the combined choir and orchestra made the most of the full and impressive arrangement of “Deck the Halls” that ends the Shaw/Bennett arrangement by giving a full-bodied but balanced sound.