Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music will present its annual Holiday Concert on Dec. 1 and 2 at 8 p.m. in Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall at the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $25 for the general public and $5 for students and are available through the Performing Arts Center Box Office at 706/542-4400. Proceeds from the ticket sales will support the 2nd Thursday Scholarship fund in the school of music.
The evening’s program will feature six choral ensembles in the school of music, including the UGA Hodgson Singers, University Chorus, Women’s Glee Club, Men’s Glee Club, Classic City Jazz and Collegium Musicum. The UGA Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Mark Cedel, will provide accompaniment for the concert. The symphony orchestra also will perform musical interludes, including Act II from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
The concert will open with the UGA Hodgson Singers performance of Eric Whitacre’s Lux Arumque. This will be followed by the orchestra fanfare, choral processional and an audience sing-along to the tune of Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful, conducted by doctoral orchestral conducting student Eric Hawk. Cedel, director of orchestral activities, will conduct the symphony orchestra performing A Christmas Festival, by Leroy Anderson, along with the Introduction, March and Shepherd’s Dance from Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. This will be followed by the Collegium Musicium’s performance of the original carol The Endris Night by retired music faculty member John Corina. The first half will close with three vhoruses from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Mitos Andaya, associate director of choral activities.
The second half of the concert will feature two choral-orchestral collaborations conducted by Daniel Bara, director of choral activities. Opening the half will be Randol Alan Bass’ lyrical piece Gloria, first made famous by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra. The UGA Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Cedel, will then perform the Pas de deux from The Nutcraker, which will be followed by Christmas favorites performed by the Classic City Jazz. The evening will close with the familiar Christmas medley titled “The Many Moods of Christmas,” arranged and frequently performed by the late Robert Shaw with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus.
“This concert is always a favorite among our singers and audience members alike,” said Bara, who joined the UGA faculty in August 2010. “In addition to ushering in a season whose themes embrace the ideas of sharing, charity and good-will among all people, the concert also is one that celebrates the wealth of talent found in our UGA student musicians. With almost 200 singers joined by a professional-caliber symphony orchestra made up of UGA’s finest student instrumentalists, there is, indeed, much to celebrate.”
Hodgson Concert Hall itself will be decorated for the concerts with poinsettias from the UGA Choral Association poinsettia sale. Audience members who have pre-purchased poinsettias may take their poinsettias with them following the concert.
For more information on the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music, see http://www.music.uga.edu/.
