I Attended Wheaton 's Christmas Festival

The concert opened with Fanfare and Flourishes (1995) by James Curnow. The piece was based on Marc-Antoine Charpentier's polyphonic motet, “Te Deum”. Inspired by “a festive occasion” you can hear a large sound of power, incorporating the trumpets excellent call to action, making this exhilarating work a perfect concert opener for the evening.

On November 27th, the Allen Wind Ensemble Band performed their winter band concert consisting of Scherzo for X Wings by John Williams, Hymn to a Blue Hour by John Mackey, and Second Suite in F for Military Band by Gustav Holst.

Having attended various rock concerts before, I was going into unfamiliar territory when attending this music gala. The opening composition by J.S Bach that was presented to us did not sit well with me or the people around me. It sounded broken, almost disjointed, probably because the composition was written for an orchestra or maybe it just was not to my liking.

The pieces were quite odd for me at the first time, first hearing, but I got used to it at the end of the each piece. “The Gospel Train” and “Little David, Play On Your Harp” were African-American Spiritual songs, which I kind of enjoyed, because I was also, very spiritually active. The last song, “Precious Lord Take My Hand” was very calming songs. I liked the lyrics of the song. The lyrics were very touchy that it made me ponder after the applause.

The music played throughout all of the concerts adhered to be diverse. The instruments, the individuals performing, and the conductor all proved to be outstanding. The concerts proved to be interesting as I witnessed them, first hand.

“A Music Faculty Recital” at Prince George 's Community College was actually the very first concert I’ve been to that included Baroque style. The environment created a nostalgic yet modern and elegant mood; something that made you feel like you were in the late 1700’s yet still in modern times. The songs were mostly enjoyable and we 're all well played. This concert included an ensemble: the flute, the cello, the piano, and the harpsichord. Peggy Bair, who played the flute, was very enthusiastic. Irma Cripe, who played the cello, was quiet for the first part of the concert but gradually became more important throughout the concert. And lastly, the virtuous Gary Kirkeby, who played the piano and harpsichord, served as the backbone of all parts of the concert and made this concert very enjoyable.

For my concert report, I chose to attend a University Chambers Players performance. Within this classical genre of music, the pieces performed were all homophonic in texture and each melody introduced was supported by chordal accompaniment. All of the pieces performed ranged from an eighteenth to twentieth century time period, and furthermore, each performance employed the use of western world instruments, such as the piano, cello, violin, and viola.

My bow lifted off of my cello and froze midair after the final chord of Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival”, and I grinned at my stand partner. The audience rose to their feet, whooping and whistling as the conductor cued the orchestra for the encore.

Polonaise it was like a war for angry. At one point the violins were going back and forth with the violas and cellos. You could tell there was a conflict and the performers expressed it very well will the movement of their bodies. Sleigh ride made me think of Christmas and happy times in the snow made me feel like i was in a sleigh gliding across the snow. Carols of the bells at the start it sounded like bells going

Valley Concert Chorale’s Sing-It-Yourself Messiah event has been a Tri-Valley holiday tradition for the past 12 years. Singers of all ages are invited to add their vocals to Part I of Handel’s great choral masterpiece, also known as the Christmas portion of Messiah. The performance of this classic will conclude with a powerful rendition of the “Hallelujah Chorus”.

On Saturday, December 12th, the High School Philharmonic All-Region Orchestra performed a variety of fascinating pieces. They were directed by Professor Edward Kawakami from Carthage College. The region orchestra began the concert with “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 op. 39” by Edward Elgar. The next piece that the orchestras performed was “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy. The last piece that the High School Philharmonic All-Region Orchestra performed was “Samson and Dalila Dance Bacchanale op. 47” by Camille Saint-Saens.

For my second concert I attended the Central Methodist University Concert Band at Swinney Conservatory of music. The first piece that they played was titled Cyrus the Great, this piece was composed by Karl King and arrangement by Andrew Glover. Cyrus was a band member in King Fort Dodge Municipal Band from Iowa. This piece is a march. This piece contains low brass lines with minor key tonalities with some interesting harmonic changes. The great thing about this piece is that it gives all sections of the band a chance to shine and show their skills. Mr. King published this piece in 1912 after he finished playing in circus bands.

On the evening of Sunday, December 16, 2012, I had the pleasure of attending a concert I’d wanted to see for quite a while. I was delighted to attend Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, performed by the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Richmond Ballet. The performance took place at Carpenter Theatre in Richmond Virginia. As I entered I felt a bit out of place. I’d never attended a performance quite like this one and I was a bit nervous. I took my seat to the left of the orchestra pit. I was thrilled to see how close I was. I had arranged for a seat near the orchestra so I could observe them as they played.

On paper it might seem a tad dull. Program No. 9 of the Festival, however, which was made up of Red Angels, Varied Trio (in four), Barber Violin Concerto, followed after intermission by Polaris, After the Rain pas de deux, and Concerto DSCH was a genuine feast for the eyes and ears.

The theme of this concert was very relevant to the season. All the songs sounded wintery, and perfect for Christmas. While all the songs played into the general theme of the concert, the mood and style of each of the songs was different. The first song, Andante Festivo, was played by the stings and was a little slow paced but at the same time uplifting. The nest song, Divertimento, was fast paced and sounded happy. This song was also played by the strings. Reverie was played by the strings, and it was slow, but dramatic. The next song was a solo for the violin players. It was 3 different Rumanian folk dances. The songs were fast and kind of pop-ish. The instrumentals last song was Merry Christmas, Darling, which was slow and reflective. The first song that the choir and piano perform is Daybreak, the piano sounded fun and the vocals very high. The next song was