Songs of Christmas past
Popular annual holiday concert features music of the millennium
"A Timeless Christmas" will be the theme of two holiday family concerts offered by the Glacier Symphony and Chorale on Dec. 10-11.
A 60-voice chorale, directed by Shaun Garner, leads off both concert, followed in the second half by the symphony, conducted by John Zoltek.
Garner says that treasured songs of the Christmas season from the past millennium will be part of the choral repertoire.
The concert will open with a plainsong chant that dates from the turn of the last millennium, followed by "O Magnum Mysterium" by the Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas de la Victoria and "O Little One Sweet," by J.S. Bach.
Colonial America composer William Billings is represented with "A Virgin Unspotted." "The Virgin's Lullaby" comes from 19th-century German Romantic-period composer Max Reger.
The chorale will finish the first half of the evening with "Hope For Resolution," a modern work that incorporates the chant heard earlier in the program with a rhythmic, fast-paced African melody.
Composers for the symphony portion of the evening include Giovanni Gabrieli, a Baroque Venetian composer, Italian-American opera composer Gian-Carlo Menotti, the Viennese waltz king Johann Strauss Jr., his father Johann Strauss Sr., and the Russian master Tchaikovsky.
The symphony's portion of this concert will focus on Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite," one of the most familiar holiday orchestral works, full of innocence, humor, and luminous tone color. Instrumental selections from Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" will enchant the audience and showcase specific woodwind soloists. "Overture to Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss Jr. also adds to the show.
The concert will conclude with audience participation pieces by Johann Strauss Sr., "Radetsky March" and a fun-filled audience Christmas carol sing-along led by the chorale called "Sing in Exaltation," arranged by Daniel Powers.
Concert times are 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 10 and 3 p.m. on Dec. 11. Both concerts will be held in the auditorium at Flathead High School. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students.
Tickets may be purchased at the following outlets: Books West in Kalispell; The Village Shop, Dwyers' Gallery and the Montana Coffee Traders Whitefish Coffee Shop, in Whitefish; Glacier Wallflower in Columbia Falls, ArtFusion in Bigfork, and Sliters Ace Hardware in Lakeside, Century 21 Big Sky Realty in Polson.
Tickets are based on availability at the door. This popular concert often sells out so early purchase of tickets is recommended.
Call the GSC office at 257-3241 or visit www.glaciersymphonychorale.org for more information.