Holiday Concert Nov. 21-22

The Holidays come early this as the Hugh Hodgson School of Music presents its annual Holiday Concert Nov. 21-22 at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall as the final Thursday Scholarship Series performances of this calendar year. The program features the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, combined choirs of Glee Clubs, University Chorus, and Hodgson Singers:

The program will include a large portion of the orchestral music from Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic ballet, The Nutcracker, performed in the first half of the concert. “This year's concerts presented a unique challenge in that they are the week before Thanksgiving, which marks the beginning of the holidays,” said Director of Orchestral Activities Mark Cedel, which is why he chose for the UGA Symphony Orchestra to perform Tchaikovsky's “Nutcracker Suite” from Act II. 

The second half of the program will include the choirs with orchestra, and will include pieces on the theme of Thanksgiving and Harvest.  This section will include the uplifting and poignant chorus, “The Promise of Living” which is a choral excerpt from Aaron Copland’s opera, “The Tender Land.” The combined choirs will sing hymns and shaker tunes arranged by Mack Wilberg and Kevin Siegfried, as well as some traditional holiday selections, including a setting by British composer John Rutter. They will perform a sweeping choral/orchestral holiday medley, “A Symphony of Carols,” arranged by Randol Allan Bass, which includes familiar arrangements of carols in medieval French, Spanish, German, Latin, and English. Both the UGA Symphony Orchestra and choral department worked diligently in preparing for this early holiday concert. 

“The foreign language component of the Symphony of Carols is a bit of a challenge, and certainly, the Tchaikovsky’s brilliant and colorful score for the Nutcracker presents considerable technical challenges,” says Daniel Bara, the John D. Boyd UGA Foundation Professor of Choral Music and Director of Choral Activities.

Always a feast for the spirit to set the stage for the holiday season, the Holiday Concert is a must-experience, so get your tickets today.