The Oak Ridge Community Band performs in a Christmas concert at First Baptist Church in 2015. (Submitted photo)
To help you ring in the Christmas season, the Oak Ridge Community Band/Wind Ensemble has a free Music of the Season concert this Sunday afternoon, December 11. The performance begins at 3:30 p.m. and will be held in the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church at 1101 Oak Ridge Turnpike. It’s open to the public, dress is casual, and there will be refreshments at the conclusion of the program, a press release said.
“This concert is a wonderful opportunity to bring family and friends to relax and enjoy hearing familiar holiday tunes and sing favorite Christmas carols,” the press release said.
Among the numbers on Sunday’s program are two of Leroy Anderson’s most well-known holiday tunes: “A Christmas Festival,” featuring a medley of carols, and the time-honored piece “Sleigh Ride,” in which you can not only hear the bells on the horse pulling the sleigh but the crack of the whip, the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves, and the horse’s distinctive neigh.
The band will also perform Gustav Holst’s “Christmas Day” fantasy of carols, James Curnow’s arrangement of Handel’s “Suite from Messiah,” and Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad.”
Songbooks will be distributed to the audience who will be invited to sing Christmas carols accompanied by the band.
The Oak Ridge Community Band/Wind Ensemble is directed by Dale Pendley and assistant conductor Lisa Michaels.
Band members are instrumentalists ranging from high school age to 90 years who volunteer their time for rehearsals on Thursday evenings at the First Baptist Church and perform concerts year-round. For more information visit www.orcb.org or call (865) 483-3044.
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