Our Mission:
Cascadia Music builds community through sharing the joy of music.
Join us for the Annual Holiday Concert!
The concert is performed on two nights, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 12 and 13, at 7 p.m. in the Methow Valley Community Center. Admission is by donation.
Cascadia’s annual holiday concert will have something for everyone — what orchestra and chorale director Terry Hunt calls “the Three S’s — sacred, secular and schmaltz.”
The program, to be performed Dec. 12 and 13, features everything from movements of Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria for orchestra and chorus to Cowboy Christmas, a witty medley of carols with catchy beat, to the spirited Hanukkah song Ocho Kandelikas.
The concert features the Pipestone Orchestra, Cascadia Chorale, and the Pipestone Youth Orchestra, plus prelude music by the valley’s handbell choir conducted by Virginia Borg. Pianist Michael Brady accompanies the chorale.
Traditional holiday numbers include “Sleigh Ride” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”. The chorale also sings a dramatic arrangement of the poem “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
The orchestra plays a sentimental version of “We Need a Little Christmas” from the Broadway musical Mame.
The orchestra and chorale team up on “Christmas Day” by Gustav Holst, a fantasy on old carols including “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “The First Noel.”
The chorale sings a beautiful arrangement of “Pie Jesu” by Victor Johnson, a sweet, gentle setting of the traditional Latin text that sounds as if it’s meant to be sung to a newborn.
Hunt arranged the upbeat, rhythmically complex “African Noel” to highlight the talents of the musicians, including improvisation on clarinet by Wayne Mendro and on percussion by Will Lone.
Sopranos Georgina Tobiska and Kathleen Manseau are featured soloists in the “Laudamus Te” duet from the Vivaldi Gloria.
The Pipestone Youth Orchestra, conducted by Pam Hunt, features 14 talented young musicians on violin, viola, cello and bass. The ensemble will perform a medley of French and Ukrainian Christmas carols. They’ll join the orchestra on “Ancient Dances and Airs” by Ottorino Respighi, a suite of Renaissance dances updated with an early-20th-century flair.
Among the approximately 20 musicians in the orchestra, 30 singers in the chorale, and the youth orchestra are three generations from a single family.
The concert is a beloved holiday tradition in the valley, Cascadia’s annual gift to the community for more than three decades.
The concert is performed on two nights, Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 12 and 13, at 7 p.m. in the Methow Valley Community Center. Admission is by donation.
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