​The Westside Community & Youth Orchestra

Winter 2022 Concerts:"Masters in this Hall"

Concert 1, Wednesday, December 7, 2022, LHS Auditorium

Concert 2, Wednesday, December 14, 2022, 1st Congregational Church Sanctuary

There’s nothing like an old fashioned Christmas concert to usher in the Holiday spirit. It’s not often in life we stumble across remembrances of moments that take us directly back to a fond memory from our childhood. I believe in this concert you may rediscover a few of these. As a child, I distinctly remember times when our whole grade school assembly would celebrate on the grassy school grounds all singing together. Passerby's would stop in wonderment at the surprising approachable sound, possibly relishing in those innocent voices their own reminiscence. I think of those wonderful moments every time we enjoy this celebration with a choir. There is just simply nothing better than the original instrument of choice, in time with all the tangible instruments of the orchestras palette. There is just nothing like it. Guests include the Liberty High School Choirs and Los Grillos Renaissance Consort Voices.

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Program

He is Born with Away In A Manger, Dan Goeller

Canadian Brass Christmas - arr. Luther Henderson, orch. Calvin Custer

Angels We Have Heard On High with O Come All Ye Faithful, Dan Goeller

Fantasia on Greensleeves, Ralph Vaughn Williams, arr. David Stone

Hanukkah Lights, Holiday Medley, arr. Jeffrey Olenick (premier)

Miracle on 34th Street Overture, Bruce Broughton, arr. Johnnie Vinson

Do You Hear What I Hear, arr. Emily Crocker & John Moss

Silent Night, Franz Grüber, arr. Dan Forrest

Masters in this Hall, Traditional, arr. Mark Hayes

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Spring 2023 Concerts:​“Americana, Wide Open Spaces”

Concert 1, Friday, May 5, 2023, 1st Congregational  Sanctuary

Concert 2, Friday, May 12, 2023, LHS Auditorium

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 I had a moment last year that most conductors have never experienced. A token of thanks from the orchestra and board for 10 years as their artistic director and conductor. This took place at end our last dress rehearsal in front of the orchestra when I was just stepping off the podium. They presented me with a carefully wrapped gift, a signed copy of a score, autographed by the composer, Aaron Copland, entitled Billy the Kid, Waltz. I was embarrassingly speechless and frankly overwhelmed. Along with the signed score, was a set of parts, so of course I knew this had to be on the menu for next season. Yet, how to include it took some thought. Listening to it, its simplicity spelled wide skillful imagination, a certain trait many American composers have in their music, yet not easily analyzed. It is my opinion they can share an experience of wide open landscape within their scores, which is what could be heard from this piece as well. My scope soon became set, an Americana concert, based on wide open spaces. I added more splashes of Copland’s endeavors, based from his same title, Billy the Kid, then added three pieces by current American composers: Bruce Broughton, Mark O’Connor and John Keltonic, while only listening for the wide open space feel of our county. And what a better time in history to get this theme out on the stage. Hope to see you there.

Program

Americana Symphony, mov. 1, 3 & 6, Mark O’Connor

   I. Wide Open Spaces

   III. Different Paths Toward Home

   VI. Splendid Horizons

Billy the Kid: Waltz, Aaron Copland

Billy the Kid: Prairie Night & Celebration, Aaron Copland

O Pioneers!, Bruce Broughton

Our Wings Have Caught the Wind, John Keltonic