A Holiday Return and a Debut

Hello There,

I know…another Holiday concert????  Yes…Monday and Tuesday, we will acknowledge this time of year with music of the Season. However, you will not hear Silent Night, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Santa Baby. You will hear a couple of Holiday favorites for chamber ensembles and some lovely works that may be new to you.

Next week’s Pillsbury Cookie Concert Holiday Hoopla includes a couple of beloveds like Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Greensleeves and a surprise encore. The program also holds some works which fit the Holiday theme but may not be familiar to you. We will play 2 Baroque Christmas Concertos by Manfredini and Molter, 2 short harpsichord pieces by Scarlatti, 2 works for solo harp by Britten and Glinka, and a set of old carols set for instruments by Charpentier. Rounding things out is a selection from a Handel oratorio….nope….not The Messiah. This one is the overture to his oratorio Judas Maccabaeus. Oh yes…and the surprise encore.

Musicians featured in solo positions include harpist Megan Stout, harpsichordist Charles Metz, violinists Jessica Cheng Hellwege and Eva Kozma, flutist Jennifer Nitchman and percussionist Shannon Wood. Yes…you read me correctly…a percussionist.

To get things started, our Prelude series returns with student performers from our Young Artist Chamber Program. The Rader Quartet from will perform a movement from a Haydn string quartet. This ensemble of young musicians includes  Bradley Smith and Yiyun (Lana) Xu – violins, Isabella Pantano – viola and  Natalie VanWinkle – cello.

And to keep all of this together, our conductor for the evening is Roger Kaza. You may know Roger better as a frequent performer on horn with The Chamber and of course as the SLSO Principal Horn. Roger has conducted CMSSL ensembles numerous times in our annual Donor Appreciation Concert in Centene Auditorium. Unfortunately, the past 2 years we have had to suspend those due to COVID. So for this concert, Roger makes his debut with us at the Sheldon and  brings his superb musicianship in front of the musicians instead of among them.

Please join us on Monday or Tuesday for music and fun. All ticket holders are invited for some treats at the reception to honor our Concert Sponsors after the concert.

So…don’t be a Scrooge. See you in the Sheldon Concert Hall Monday or Tuesday…or both!
Marc