The Elmhurst University Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will present their annual Holiday Concert on Sunday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. in Hammerschmidt Chapel on the university campus. The concert will feature a variety of holiday music and conclude with an audience sing-along. The concert is free and open to the campus and community.
The concert will open with the Wind Ensemble performing John Wasson’s Festival Fanfare for Christmas, originally composed for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers from the opera “The Snow Maiden” along with the Adagio from Arcangelo Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto” and Mozart’s Forgiveness from “The Marriage of Figaro” will provide classical contrast to the jazzy Blue Shades by Frank Ticheli. The Elmhurst University Chamber Chorale will be featured in Somewhere in My Memory composed by John Williams from his musical score for the movie “Home Alone.” The first portion of the concert will conclude with Minor Alterations by David Lovrien, a musical twist on Christmas carols as seen through a looking glass.
The Symphonic Band will open the second half of the program with It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, a traditional holiday favorite. A medley of holiday music by Irving Berlin will follow including Let’s Start the New Year Right and White Christmas, originally performed by Bing Crosby in the motion picture “Holiday Inn.” A collection of four carols from the Renaissance will be performed, carols that are among the most beautiful still sung and performed today . . . 500 years later. One of the most enjoyable holiday favorites invites us to hear those sleigh bells jingling in a wonderful world of snow in Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride. The concert will conclude with an audience sing-along to some of the most delightful Christmas carols fashioned together in Leroy Anderson’s famous Christmas Festival. And who knows? . . . There may be a visit by a jolly gentleman in a red suit!
The public is welcome to attend and admission to the concert is free. For further information regarding this concert, future performances, a map of the campus or more information, please visit www.elmhurst.edu/music .
