Rescheduled for 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 28!
Goddard Auditorium, Earlham College
A Festive Fanfare Brian Balmages (1975- )
This celebratory opening contains small snippets of several well-known Christmas carols. It is not a medley of songs but rather uses the small excerpts to transition from one piece to another.
Classic Sleigh Ride Leopold Mozart (1719-1787); Arr. Jay Conard
Leopold was the father and teacher of the more famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Several compositions entitled “Sleigh Ride” exist (with Leroy Anderson’s the one we hear most often). Our arrangement is from a suite of pieces Leopold wrote; we play three parts from the suite:
Intrada (entrance)
Sleigh ride
“The Young Lady Shivering with Cold”
We conclude with the sleigh ride as we return home.
Fantasia on Greensleeves Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Arr. David Stone
This famous English tune is used in the carol “What Child Is This?” The secondary tune heard in the middle is a Suffolk folk song called “Lovely Joan.”
The Skaters’ Waltz Emile Waldteufel (1837-1915)
Written in 1882, this waltz was inspired by a skating rink in Paris (think of Rockefeller Center on 5th Avenue in NYC). You can imagine gliding on the ice–without the cold and falling.
Deck the Halls Fantasie Dana Alan Graybeal
Dana is a contemporary composer living in the Phoenix area. His “Deck the Halls Fantasie” is an inventive theme and variation on the familiar tune. One variation has the scale altered with a lowered 2nd and a raised 3rd, giving it an exotic flair. The waltz variant has a complex flute part, and the ending galop brings things to a fine end.
Sheep May Safely Graze J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
This piece is from “The Hunting Cantata” (a secular cantata), written for the birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. The text is a mythological allegory with the duke as the demigod Pan. The words are as follows:
Sheep may safely graze on pasture
When the shepherd guards them well.
Where rulers govern well
We may feel peace and rest
And that makes countries happy.
Christmas Sing-along Arr. Jay Conard
Join along in this medley of Christmas favorites. The words (if you need
them) are on an insert in your program.
Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town John Coots and Haven Gillespie
Coots and Gillespie wrote this song in 1934. In November of that year Eddie Cantor sang it on his radio show, and it became an instant hit. It has been covered by more than 200 artists.
Glorious Sounds of Christmas Dwight Gustafson (1930-2014)
Gustafson uses many different colors of the orchestra to give us this rich
tapestry of Christmas music. In particular, note the delicate version of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and the use of the Kirkpatrick tune for “Away in a Manger.”
Our full season
NEW MUSIC EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY
Sponsored by RCO, the Strings Initiative Program will begin offering free violin lessons for children beginning in January, 2026.
Read more here.
For a taste of the RCO, the link below takes you to our June 2023 concert in Glen Miller Park.