UW Gala Holiday Concert Dec. 9

The University of Wyoming Department of Music presents a Gala Holiday Concert Dec. 9-10 in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

“A Hot Chocolate Holiday” will be presented Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 10, at 3 p.m.

Tickets cost $10 for the public; $7 for senior citizens; and $6 for students. Tickets are available at the Performing Arts box office and the Wyoming Union information desk, by calling (307) 766-6666 or going online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

With the theme of hot chocolate, all the combined UW choirs will sing “Hot Chocolate” from the popular holiday animated film “The Polar Express.” Bel Canto Women’s Choir and the Singing Statesmen will combine in a jazz style to present Ella Fitzgerald’s “Hotta Chocolatta.”

UW music faculty soprano Maureen Boddicker will sing a Bach aria “Ah, How Sweet Chocolate Tastes, More Delicious Than a Thousand Kisses.” The voices and orchestra groups will then present a new song, “The Chocolate Carol.”

“Punch Williamson, Laramie’s favorite Englishman, is the narrator this year, and he also will perform his signature organ postlude,” says Michael Griffith, UW director of orchestral activities and a Department of Music professor.

The Bel Canto Women’s Choir and the Civic Chorus are conducted by Assistant Professor Holly Dalrymple; Associate Professor Nicole Lamartine directs the Singing Statesmen; Griffith directs the Symphony Orchestra; and the Wind Symphony is directed by Professor Bob Belser.

Other pieces on the concert bill include “Christmas Mambo,” a light Cuban-style version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” and “Midnight Sleigh Ride,” a jazzy version of Prokofiev’s “Troika.”

A new tune by contemporary composer Steven Sametz, titled “Noel,” is built on a repeating idea of music for each vocal section, Griffith says. Leroy Anderson’s popular “Sleigh Ride” also will be performed. The concert ends with the combined musical groups singing a carol medley.

“Robert Shaw’s ‘The Many Moods of Christmas’ fills that exciting role,” Griffith says.

For more information, call Griffith at (307) 766-3069 or email symph@uwyo.edu.

 

 

Contact Us

Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu


Find us on Facebook (Link opens a new window) Find us on Twitter (Link opens a new window)