Oak Ridge Today

Christmas Concert by Community Band this afternoon

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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. [Read more…]

Music of ‘Emperor,’ ‘ Cinderella,’ ‘Christmas Festival’ to be featured at Dec. 6 concert

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Oak Ridge Community Orchestra September 2014 Concert

The Oak Ridge Community Orchestra is pictured above in a September 2014 Concert. (Photo by Ellen Greenwood)

 

By Dale Gedcke

A free concert by the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra at 2 p.m. Saturday, December 6, will feature the “Emperor (Kaiser) Waltzes” by Johann Strauss Jr., the “Cinderella Suite No. 1” by Prokofiev, the “Radetzky March” by Johann Strauss Sr., and “A Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson. This is an exciting program that you will not want to miss.

In 1950, Leroy Anderson wrote “A Christmas Festival” to be performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra. Ever since, it has been a popular favorite of audiences and orchestras. Somehow, Anderson was able to weave all the famous Christmas carols into a progressive collage of color. The startling opening begins with “Deck the Halls,” and continues with the quieter carols in the middle of the suite. In the finalé, Anderson shows his compositional ingenuity with a raucous variation on “Jingle Bells” that is briefly interrupted by the climax of “O, Come All Ye Faithful,” before rushing to an exciting conclusion with a confluence of “Joy to the World” and the “Jingle Bells” variation. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Community Orchestra plays seasonal music on Saturday

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Oak Ridge Community Orchestra Bass and Viola Sections

The bass and viola sections of the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra are pictured above. (Photos courtesy of Travis Witherington)

In its free concert at 2 p.m. Saturday, the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra will play well-known music associated with traditional celebrations in December.

“Everyone will immediately recognize the dashing ‘Sleigh Ride’ by Leroy Anderson, and the Christmas carols captured by William Burkhart in his special arrangement, ‘While in the Fields,'” a press release said. “You can savor the traditional Russian flavor with ‘Polonaise’ from the ‘Christmas Eve Suite’ by Rimsky-Korsakov, and ‘Russian Christmas Music’ by Alfred Reed. Moreover, you will enjoy the lilting style of traditional Jewish music in ‘Festive Sounds of Hanukah’ by Bill Holcombe.”

This eclectic mix of celebratory seasonal music will be performed at 2 pm. Saturday in the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of Oak Ridge, on the corner of the Oak Ridge Turnpike and LaFayette Drive. Admission is free. But, modest donations at the door to support the orchestra’s routine operating expenses will be appreciated. [Read more…]