The University of Florida (UF) College of the Arts and the School of Music is pleased to present its annual holiday concert, Sounds of the Season, on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Gainesville, Florida. Occurring this year on National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, this year’s concert will honor U.S. soldiers past and present and will have the theme Bells of Remembrance. Performers will present three selections from Bing Crosby’s 1944 Christmas Radio Show, which was sent out to the fighting men and women in Europe and the Pacific, as well as Silent Night, Holy Night, which conveys the story of a wartime Christmas miracle composed by Mack Wilberg with narration written by Walter Cronkite. The narration will be delivered by Bob Rose of 97.3 WSKY radio.
With generous support by President Machen and First Lady Machen, Sounds of the Season: Bells of Remembrance will feature more than 300 performers, including student singers from the UF Concert Choir, UF Women’s Chorale and Men’s Glee Club, the UF Symphony Orchestra, The GCC Master Chorale and the Oakcrest Baptist Church Handbell Choir.
“Sounds of the Season is a wonderful seasonal legacy and it is particularly special this year, as it is the last one during President Machen’s term at UF,” said Professor and Director of Choral Activities Dr. Will Kesling. “This concert gathers the entire community and offers a time for us all to pause and escape from the hectic, and nowadays, frightful outside world into a delightful inner world of comfort and joy.”
The concert will open with the a joyous Christmas processional Cuncti simus concimentes, a Medieval Pilgrim Song arranged by Joshua Mazur, a graduate student in the School of Music, and will close with Georg Friedrich Händel’s Hallelujah Chorus. A kaleidoscope of seasonal favorites will be heard in between. Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Hugh Martin’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and a comic setting of Jingle Bells from Bing Crosby’s 1944 Christmas Radio Show will be performed. The centerpiece of the concert, Silent Night, Holy Night, conveys the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 when fighting momentarily ceased during World War I and German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines.
Tickets to Sounds of the Season are free and will be distributed at the door beginning at 6:00 p.m. the day of the concert. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early to secure a seat, as a full house is expected. For more information, contact the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-2787 or visit http://performingarts.ufl.edu.
About the School of Music
The School of Music is one of the University of Florida College of the Arts’ three fully-accredited schools. The School of Music plays an important role in the academic life of the University and the community. The school’s programs provide broad-based instruction in performance, composition, history and literature and music disciplines, through a strong curriculum as well as through professional experiences such as ensembles and internships. UF students also have the opportunity to join more than a dozen music ensembles, including jazz bands, the University Choir, the University Symphony Orchestra and the “Pride of the Sunshine” Fightin’ Gator Marching Band. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu/music.
About the College of the Arts
The College of the Arts, previously known as the College of Fine Arts, is one of the 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The College of the Arts offers baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its three institutionally-accredited schools — the School of Art + Art History, School of Music and School of Theatre + Dance. The college is home to the Center for Arts in Medicine, Center for Arts and Public Policy, Center for World Arts, Digital Worlds Institute, University Galleries and the New World School of the Arts in Miami. More than 100 faculty members and approximately than 1,200 students work together daily to engage, inspire and create. The college hosts more than 300 performances, exhibitions and events each year. Faculty and students also exhibit and perform at other local, national and international venues. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu.
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Media Contact
Leah Craig, Public Relations and Marketing Manager
University of Florida College of the Arts
Office: 352.273.1489 | Cell: 904.419.3346
lcraig@arts.ufl.edu