Holiday concert will feature area music makers
By Terry Murry on Monday, November 18th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Oregon East Symphony will bring together a variety of community music ensembles for the Holiday Music Festival, an annual ecumenical celebration of the holidays through music. There will be one presentation of the Holiday Music Festival at 2:30pm, Sunday, Dec. 8 at the Vert Auditorium, 480 SW Dorion Ave, Pendleton.
Featured ensembles at this year’s Holiday Music Festival include the Hermiston Brass Quintet, Pendleton High School A Cappella Choir, Sisters in Song Women’s Choir and the Pendleton Men’s Chorus.
The Hermiston Brass Quintet will perform a variety of holiday standards as arranged by Canadian Brass. Quintet members, many of whom are public school music educators, include Cristian Mata (tuba), Daniel Allen (first trumpet), Josh Holmes (horn), Jordan Bemrose-Rust (second trumpet), and Sean McClanahan (trombone). Mata serves as director of bands at Armand Levine Middle School, Allan as director of bands at Sandstone Elementary, Bemrose-Rust as director of choirs at Hermiston High School, and McClanahan as director of bands at Hermiston High School.
The Pendleton High School A Cappella Choir under the direction of Emily Muller-Cary, who is also OES’ principal viola and frequent alto soloist, will sing Jacob Navarud’s “Hodie,” “Away in a Manger (Forever Amen),” music from the Disney film “Frozen” and “A Kid on Christmas.”
The Pendleton Men’s Chorus, under the direction of retired Pendleton High School Choir Director Bill Mayclin with accompanist Ruth Butterfield-Winter, will make their first appearance with the Holiday Music Festival since 2019. Works to be performed include the traditional English carol “Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl,” John Rutter’s “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind,” “Oh! Christmas Tree???” (a parody of the traditional German carol), and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
The Sisters in Song Women’s Choir, under the direction of Cheryl Carlson, is a community women’s choir open to all women high school age and up that would like to participate. Pieces to be performed by the Sisters this year include the Spanish carol “What Shall We Give?,” the Trinidadian carol “Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy,” “Sing Ding-a Ding-a Dong” by Lynn Shaw Bailey, and an arrangement of “Jingle Bells” featuring OES principal percussionist John Wilson.
Through a season sponsorship from the Pendleton Foundation Trust, the Oregon East Symphony is offering free general admission to the Holiday Music Festival. Free tickets are for any unreserved, floor-level seat and can be picked up from a list of downtown Pendleton businesses and organizations who are listed on the OES website. Reserved seats for the balcony or floor level are available for purchase through the symphony office (541-276-0302, 345 SW Fourth St., Pendleton) and website (www.OregonEastSymphony.org).
Photos (top to bottom) The Pendleton High School A Cappella Choir, Sisters in Song (photo by Harper Jones), and the Pendleton Men’s Chorus (photo by Harper Jones).
Editor’s note: All of the information for this article and the photos were provided by Oregon East Symphony. It was edited to correct typographical, punctuation, and other minor errors.
